Laura Koniver, MD's Blog, page 19

How To Deal With Bugs This Spring… Yep, Including Ticks and Tick Bites

 

 

Ticks carrying the Lyme disease bacteria (Borrelia Burgdorferi) have been found in all 50 states, so don���t be fooled into thinking its only something that folks in the northeast have to be concerned with.

But as much as I detest ticks, I really don���t want you to limit or stop your healing practice of connecting to Mother Earth outside daily because of a fear of ticks.

To me, this healing practice of grounding is as crucial as eating or hydrating or breathing to stay healthy for an entire lifetime.

The earth has food, air, water, and conductive support all waiting to restore you back to full health. ��To read more about how the earth supports the conductive health of your body, you definitely want to read my book The Earth Prescription.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, instead of staying indoors, let���s dive into all of the things you can do proactively each time you go outside to prevent lyme disease.

Quite simply, preventing a tick bite in the first place is the single most important thing you can do to avoid Lyme disease. ��This is an area where you can really empower yourself to be completely aware and diligent so that you never ever need to fear being outside or let fear of ticks keep you from enjoying Mother Nature.

 

8 Ways To Prevent A Tick Bite:

 

1. ��Mow:

 

 

The easiest thing you can do is to keep your yard and outdoor living space trimmed, mowed low (don���t let grass grow long, ticks love long grass) and remove piles of leaves and other debris ��� this will automatically reduce your chances of having ticks in your yard.

 

 

 

��Get Chickens:

Add a few free roaming chickens to your yard space and you will have a tick monitoring and disposal system that is practically self running!

Woot!

Chickens eat ticks and constantly scavenge for ticks and other pests that are harmful to humans��� and you get to enjoy some delicious organic free range eggs to boost!

 

Add a fence:

Likewise, it���s important to ensure pets don���t bring ticks into your yard and home (which are one of the most common ways that humans get tick bites!) �� The best thing to do is ensure pets that live in the home with you do not roam in wooded areas.

Installing a fence or keeping pets confined only to yard areas that are mowed short is one of the single most important things you can do to decrease human exposure to Lyme.

 

 

Groom pets:

Daily brushing and inspecting the pet for ticks after time spent outside, !(before bringing your pets in to the home!) will help prevent ticks from catching a ride into your living space.

Keeping pets out of bedrooms and off of furniture during tick season (late spring, all summer & early fall) will decrease the chance that you or your family members will get a tick bite after a tick has dropped off a pet.

Talk to your veterinarian for more strategies on keeping ticks off of your family pet.

 

Use Cedar Oil as a natural tick deterrent:

Topically it���s so easy to holistically and naturally repel ticks ��� no toxic chemical required.

Simply spray exposed skin with cedar oil��� cedar oil is safe, all natural and no nasty DEET or other toxic chemicals that cause neuronal cell death.�� Repels ticks as well as flying insects.

Spray directly on skin, pets, around doorways and porches and windows ��� safe to use directly on the skin.

 

 

Tick check:

Even with doing the first 5 tips, you still need to physically double check your body for ticks every time you are outside.

Throughout the day and prior to bathing, double check your body, groin, armpits, scalp, hair and clothing for ticks.

Going directly into a shower after spending time outside is the best way to make sure ticks don���t drop off into your home or stay attached to you long enough to transmit Lyme.

If you can detect a tick before it anchors on, you���ve just prevented transmission entirely.�� It���s worth it.�� I recommend you strip off clothing and place directly into the wash after working outside, then hop in a shower to wash up.

 

Tuck in, pony up:

Wear long sleeves and pants whenever possible to help keep ticks from reaching your skin��� tucking in your shirt at the waist and if possible tucking pants legs into your socks.

Put long hair into a ponytail, bun, or even better ��� tucking it all up under a hat is a very easy way to cut your risk of tick bites dramatically because ticks love to grab onto long hair when walking through long grasses and wooded areas.

 

 

Use A Dryer:

Simply running your clothes, bedding, towels, garden gloves, hiking boots, etc��� through your dryer will kill any ticks you don���t see.�� All it takes is one hour tumbling on high heat (or 90 min on low heat) and even fabrics or shoes that you can���t wash or get wet can still have all the ticks removed and killed just by a spin through your dryer.

And if you are on a vacation, especially vacations with hiking or lots of time spent outdoors or to wooded areas, try to stay in hotels or cabins with dryers ��� simply strip down and run your clothing and shoes through the dryer every time you return from exploring outside and you slash your risk of Lyme disease greatly.

Let your clothes take a tumble while you do a tick check and grab a shower and you have gone a long way to preventing Lyme disease entirely!

If prevention fails and you do have a tick bite from an infected tick, getting treated for Lyme disease immediately is the best thing you can do to prevent long term sequelae from becoming an issue.

 

 

 

But what if you are bitten by a tick?

 

It���s okay! ��Just follow these 3 Steps��to decrease your chance of contracting Lyme:

 

��Remove the tick: ��Simply gently and firmly remove the tick with tweezers as close to the skin as possible (not squeezing the body of the tick, which may help enable the bacteria to squirt into your bloodstream!) and most importantly: save the tick!Test the tick,��so you know if it carried Lyme or not ��� this can give you instant peace of mind! ��It is infinitely easier to get a tick tested than wait and see if you become infected with Lyme. ��First of all, human Lyme tests can be inaccurate and delay prompt treatment. Second, the myriad of symptoms for Lyme disease is a great mimicker for hundreds of other illnesses and there is no one reliable way to diagnose Lyme through symptoms. And lastly, Lyme treatments become much less effective as time goes on. So submitting a tick for testing (just place it in a plastic ziplock bag with a moist paper towel)����and giving it to your local physician or sending it off to be tested yourself by Ticknology is the best way to know if you need Lyme prevention treatment or not. ��This is a service that allows you to send a tick directly to a lab and have results emailed back to you within three days ��� awesome for getting quick answers without any delay for treatment and doesn���t even need to involve a visit to your family doctor. ��Although you may prefer to go directly to your family physician, who can give you an antibiotic to have on hand to take immediately if the results do come back positive for Lyme, having direct access to tick testing services puts you in control of your own healthcare, which I am all for. ��It���s important to note that less than half of folks who contract Lyme disease actually have the classic bulls eye rash reaction at the bite site. ��Of course if you see a bullseye rash, report this immediately to your physician. ��But other symptoms of Lyme are more insidious and actually more common��� symptoms like:��fever, joint pain or swelling, muscle pain and weakness, irritability, headache, mood changes, increased susceptibility to other infections (as your immune system compromises over time) and most common: fatigue. ��So testing a tick and getting immediate antibiotic treatment for Lyme is the best thing you can do to prevent chasing vague symptoms like fatigue and headache for years to come.Boost Your Immune System: What can you do while you wait for tick test results? ��Starting some immune boosting supplements is always a good idea after a tick bite while you are waiting for tick test results. ��My favorite is Vit D, Vit C, Probiotics, and an immune boosting supplement called Quick Defense��� all included in my Lyme Prevention Protocol, right here. ��Go ahead and boost your immunity with supplements right after any suspected exposure and you will have given yourself a head start in treating Lyme before it���s even had time to express symptoms.

 

 

 

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What about annoying mosquitos and other insects that irritate us — and bite us — all summer long? ��When I head outside I use a two pronged approach:

 

All Natural Cedar Oil: �� As recommended above, not only is cedar oil a great tick deterrent but it’s fabulous for all flying and biting insects! ��Safe to spray directly on skin, pets, around doorways and porches and windows, and anywhere inside or outside of your home that bugs tend to congregate. ��Child and pet friendly. ��I advise my patients to use cedar oil when going outdoors to get grounded. ��Here is the one I use, and in fact, I use this so often��that my daughter calls it ���the smell of my childhood��� LOL!Burn sage or incense outdoors: ��I like to light a few incense sticks or a sage stick and keep it burning on my outdoor patio area while I eat dinner outside ��� to deter flying insects from buzzing around my food and spoiling the meal! ��Or, as I suggest in this blog post ��� throw a smudge stick of dried sage into your summer bonfire to help keep the mosquitoes away all night!

 

 

 

 

 

What to do if you are bitten by a mosquito or ant or any other bug, and to treat other scrapes and scratches you might get this summer?

You might already know I love honey to ease seasonal allergy symptoms��� if you haven���t read my article on that, you can read my blog post on defeating spring allergies holistically right here. ��But in addition to treating spring allergies,��I love honey for wound healing as well! ��Summer is filled with little cuts and scrapes and bites.�� So it���s the perfect time to recognize the power of honey. ��Findings published in 2012 in the International Wound Journal show that when raw honey was used on all types of wounds, it:

promoted healingminimized necrosisminimized the amount of skin that sloughed off the woundreduced wound sizedecreased affected area around wound

Not only did it help speed wound healing, but it made a measurable improvement in over 84% of wounds!!!! ��We are talking:

post operative woundsgeneral skin woundsinfectionsburnsulcerspressure sores and more!

Honey has well-known antimicrobial benefits, doesn���t spoil, is easy to have on hand and is portable (no refrigeration required!) so it really makes perfect sense to use as a secondary wound dressing in children older than 12 months old. ��To use honey for wound healing:

First be sure to flush out any wound with lots of water��� for a long period of time��� 2 minutes ideally.Then, depending on wound type you may consider a topical antihistamine, anti-inflammatory, or antibacterial dressing, and then honey.For minor wounds, use this approach of deep cleansing and then raw honey as a dressing, but be sure to have any deeper or larger wounds evaluated by a physician.

Because honey is so safe and so effective for so many different types of wounds��� and because it speeds healing and decreases the amount of skin that is affected by the wound, I feel that honey ultimately will be shown to reduce the appearance of scarring as well.

So for post operative wounds or acne infections or stretch marks or injuries that you want to minimize scarring in��� bring on the raw honey! ��Sweet news, indeed!

 

 

 

 

Now that you are armed with a ton of very effective holistic tips on avoiding tick bites and decreasing your chance of developing Lyme disease (plus a few tips to help speed recovery if you do get a bite!)��� it���s time to wish you a very very happy spring and summer full of grounding!!!

Keep going outside and enjoy the beautiful display that Mother Earth brings us each spring without fear!

xoxo, LauraP.S. ��Want to have an accountability partner to get you into a daily grounding practice?How about me?

 

I’d love to be your personal cheerleader as you truly see and experience the power of grounding and the vitality and impact it has on your health.

This is one class I can definitely say that if you implement the tips from your daily class emails, you will absolutely leave the class feeling markedly better than when you started just two weeks before. ��I even give you a grounding baseline assessment and two week re-assessment so you can literally tangibly see the results for yourself.

Join me in this two week course��and get materials, tips, and ideas for grounding that you can use again and again and again, for the rest of your life. ��It’s literally the perfect way to celebrate Earth Day and really make an actionable change to connect directly to your precious planet.

 

 

Join my Earth Connect Class: ��starts April 18th!

The post How To Deal With Bugs This Spring… Yep, Including Ticks and Tick Bites appeared first on Intuition Physician.

Surfaces You Ignore Daily That Ground You (And The Ones That Won’t)

 

 

I recently received a great question from a reader asking me to demonstrate with a ground test meter that I was truly grounded while touching cement.

Good idea.

Not only do I show you that you absolutely are grounded when touching cement in the video below, but I show you 15 different surfaces ��� besides just grass ��� that you probably walk by each day and didn���t know could ground you.

At the end, I show you the very strongest way to ground out of them all ��� yes, an even stronger ground connection than standing barefoot on grass��� can you guess what it is?

Watch this quick video and I���ll show you!

 

 

 

15 Ways To Ground Besides Grass

 

 

Hopefully that will get you inspired to reach out and touch the earth in different ways, instead of feeling like you are restricted to grass this spring. ��Grass can be sprayed with chemicals, have fire ants, have dog poop, and sometimes just isn’t the best solution when you want to get grounded.

Most of the time I prefer to ground through my hands anyway, and I really don’t want to crouch down to touch grass with my hands.

Thankfully there are lots of solutions, like trees and flowers and bushes and metal signposts and metal railings that can all ground you while you walk or stand outside.

 

 

 

 

But do you prefer your feet? ��If so that’s easy too. ��For tons of easy ways to ground through your feet, including wearing grounding footware or many other great tips and tricks, read last week’s blog post on 18 ways to get grounded outside this spring.

As a visual, below I list all the different surfaces that will get you grounded, beyond the ���just walk barefoot on grass��� tired old advice.

Not that there is anything wrong with grass.

It���s just that most of us (myself included) are not lucky enough to have a lovely backyard full of grass��� and who knows what is sprayed on the grass in public parks��� so more often than not it is a sidewalk or a rock that will tempt me to reach out and touch it more than grass will.

 

So here you go���15 Alternative Grounded Surfaces Just Waiting to Ground You Outside:

 

 

 

 

1. ��Gravel.

Yep, that gravel road, that gravel parking lot, that pea gravel patio��� it���ll all ground you, particularly if it is damp.

 

 

 

 

2. ��Ferns.

I seem to be able to find these even when most other smaller plants have gone dormant or died in the winter��� long after the grass is brown, I usually can find a fern on my winter walks. ��And yep, any rooted living thing, ferns included, growing out of the ground will ground you.

 

 

 

 

 

3. ��Moss.

Even moss growing on a tree, even moss growing on thick bark (which would typically block a ground connection) as I show in the video above, will get you grounded and feels oh-so-good. ��So if you are trying to ground through a tree that has a lot of thick bark on it, see if you can find moss growing on it to touch instead.

 

 

 

 

4. ��Slate.

Slate walkways are my favorite thing to walk barefoot on, I have a slate area by my front door that I ground on and I love it so much…��and yes you are grounded the entire time you stand or walk on one.

 

 

 

 

5. ��Tile and Ceramic.

This might be a good solution for indoor grounding too. ��If you have bare tile placed on a cement floor in your home, you might want to grab a ground test meter here and see if you can ground by touching the tile, inside the comfort of your own home!

Just be sure there is no paint on the tile, because just like slipping a plastic shoe on your conductive foot, it will seal the ground connection away from you and not allow you to get grounded.

 

 

 

 

6. ��Sidewalk.

The sidewalks around your home, the shopping mall, your office, that restaurant you are eating lunch in��� if the sidewalk is directly on the earth then they are all grounded and waiting to support your health, even in the most urban of environments!

 

 

 

 

 

7. ��Cement.

This is another great way to ground indoors directly to the earth ��� do you have a cement floor on your basement? ��Or your garage? ��Or your driveway? ��Or your patio? ��In the basement of your office building? ��Or your parking garage? It���s all powerfully grounded!

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. ��Pavers.

Similar to slate and cement and sidewalks mentioned above ��� pavers will ground you. ��In fact, most natural walkways (everything I can think of except dried wood walkways or painted surfaces) will ground you!

 

 

 

 

9. ��Brick.

Did you know that brick will ground you as well, as long as it is directly touching the earth?

 

 

 

 

10. ��Rock.

Yep, you can just sit on a rock and touch it and it will ground you.

 

 

 

 

11. Sand.

Sand is really just a collection of mini rocks, and so yes��� sand will ground you (especially if the sand is wet, as you���ll see in #15 below!)

 

 

 

 

12. ��Flowers.

All flowers that are rooted and growing out of the ground outside will ground you just by touching their stems, leaves or petals!

 

 

 

 

13. ��Trees.

The moist parts on trees (like the leaves and inner wood) will ground you, no matter how high up in the air they reach!

Just be aware that thick bark insulates you from the moist, grounded inner wood (the ���circulation��� of the tree, the��vascular cambium, is what carries the ground connection up to the leaves) so if the tree has a layer of dry, thick bark, it���s better to touch a leaf, look for moss growing on the tree (like I show you in the above video) or find areas where the bark is thinner to get grounded.

 

 

 

 

14. ��Weeds.

Yep just like the fern and flowers I show you in the video above, anything that is rooted in the ground ��� even a pesky dandelion or a thistle or thorn or other unwanted underbrush ��� it will all ground you just the same as soft grass would, no matter how gnarly or uninviting the weeds seem!

 

 

 

 

15. ��Water.

This is the most impressive, strong ground connection you can make ��� water. ��Just having one cell in your body touch one drop of water on the earth will powerfully ground you from head to toe.

One fingertip touching the very top of a stream, lake, pond, river, puddle, or ocean will do the trick!

 

 

What won���t ground you?

 

While it���s super important to know what will ground you when you head outside, it’s equally important to know what actually might be preventing you from being grounded at all.

Sadly, you can spend your entire day outside ��� eating outside, playing games outside, practicing outdoor sports, hiking outside, even camping outside all night long and never ever actually be grounded for one single second.

I hear this all the time from nature enthusiasts and hikers and back packers and campers, who believe that just because they spend lots of time soaking up the sunshine and fresh air of the great outdoors, that they are avidly grounding too.

But that just isn���t necessarily true.

So in the video below, I show you what surfaces will block you from reaping all of the benefits your body craves ����� and it really does crave spending time connected to the earth:

 

 

 

Outdoor Surfaces That Won’t Ground You

 

A quick list of what won’t ground you:

Thick dry bark on a treeasphalt on the roadthick layers of dry powdery snow or icepainted anything (painted tile, painted cement, painted metal)dried out wood or lumbar (a deck or a picnic table)

���none of these things will ground you.

 

 

Want to test all the surfaces that are out and about where you live?

 

 

You can grab the same test meter I show you in the video above right here.

I have a special cord custom made, by hand right here in the USA, to use specifically with these test meters, so as far as I know, my Grounding Boutique is the only place to find the complete set up. ��I���d love to send one your way!

If you have any other questions about grounding, hop over here to read my recent article on the Top 20 Most Common Grounding Questions I Get.

In it, I give you quick and easy answers for all of the toughest grounding questions I am routinely asked.

And below I���ve made some quick easy visuals of a few of the outdoor surfaces that will and won���t ground you. ��Feel free to share these images!

 

 

 

Ready to get grounded and feel it for yourself?I���ve got you.

 

I truly believe that the practice of grounding ��� one person at a time, on minute at a time ��� can help put our world on a different trajectory than the path it���s currently on.

I don���t feel it���s an exaggeration to say that introducing grounding to your friends and family is the first step to getting them to open up to holistic healing��� actually often it���s enough to get them open up their minds about anything, point blank.

Understanding that environmental activism goes hand in hand with embracing social and economic activism too, which means that showing someone how to get empowered in their own personal healing journey can be the first step to taking back their own power in many many different aspects of life.

If you have loved ones that you’d like to introduce to grounding, or if you have any of your own questions that you’d like to directly ask me, please join in (and tell your loved ones about) my upcoming grounding online class.

My Earth Connect class is the quickest way to jump start a grounding practice. ��It’s like a quick start guide to supporting your health through grounding.

 

Join my Earth Connect Class: ��starts on April 18th

 

 

 

Every single day in my Earth Connect class will bring you a new, uplifting, inspiring way to ground your body and support your innate health.

Have any questions about grounding?

What is the best way to ground for a particular health concern you have?

How to ground inside your home?

How to ground if you don���t have a yard?

How long to ground for?

How does grounding work?

Why does grounding work?

If so, this class is perfect for you ��� ask me any question at all about grounding and how it supports your body and I will answer you in our private class Q&A.

Join me in this two week course and get materials, tips, and ideas for grounding that you can use again and again and again, for the rest of your life.

To your natural, grounded, ever-resilient state of health!xoxox, Laura

The post Surfaces You Ignore Daily That Ground You (And The Ones That Won’t) appeared first on Intuition Physician.

10 Activities You’ll Probably Do Today That You Should Definitely Take Outside

 

 

 

So it’s officially spring, and today I want to encourage you to think about all of the activities you are already doing each day, in a new way!

Simply take them outside and do them grounded, and you will add a deep layer of healing support to anything that you do.

Grounding has to be the absolutely easiest way to add therapeutic healing to your daily routine: no cost, no stress, ��no effort, and completely painless��� enjoyable, actually!

And the medical literature backs this up ��� with a published medical study that finds grounding to be ���a simple, profound lifestyle addition, requiring no effort��� yet profoundly boosts health.

For a comprehensive list of all of the medical studies published on grounding, head over to this page here:

 

 

Long time readers of my blog already knew this, but it���s always great to have a simple, straight forward read on the health benefits of grounding to pass on along to skeptical loved ones that you know could benefit from getting outside and connecting to the earth.

So share the link to all of those medical studies widely, or simply forward this blog post to someone you want to encourage to try out grounding as the world wakes up around us this spring.

 

 

 

 

No only can you literally go outside and get grounded freely any time, but you can also use that time to multitask, adding a an additional healing element to whatever therapeutic daily practices you already have in place to support your health.

Activities like physical therapy, yoga, meditation, exercise, eating, reading, and even just spending time with loved ones, all can ��be exponentially boosted by doing them outside, grounded.

And even activities that you do daily that are not directly for your health but still must be done, like returning phone calls, working on your lap top, weeding through emails, filling out your weekly planner, scheduling work tasks, even your next zoom meeting can be done outside grounded, so that even non-healing activities can actually become healing, therapeutic ones.

So today I wanted to review my top 10 indoor activities that you can take outside ��� that way you are not adding one single thing to your to-do list, while adding immense health benefits from getting grounded!

Pick just one or two of these activities every single day over this week to move outside and I am absolutely certain you will notice the health benefits before this coming weekend.

And for those that like TikTok and/or would prefer a quick video over reading this blog post, I’ve got you:

 

@laurakonivermd

Indoor activities you can do outside grounded today + more I couldn���t fit in: breath work, reading a book, zoom calls, yoga, napping, stretches, snack

��� original sound – Laura Koniver, MD

 

10 Indoor Activities To Move Outside:

 

 

 

 

1. Physical Therapy:

 

If your physical therapist has a set of stretches for you to do daily at home, do them outside.

Moving your muscles and bones and ligaments and joints while grounded to the earth outside will increase restorative blood flow, bring a boosted oxygen levels to your tissues, and reduce soreness after exertion.

You can read more about why grounding is so supportive of your muscles and joints in this blog post I wrote for you:

Feel Immediate Relief With Grounding: Relax Your Muscles, Strengthen Your Bones

 

 

 

 

 

2. Journaling or Scheduling:

 

If your therapist wants you to do journal writing daily, do it outside. ��If you like to write in a diary, do it outside. ��If you like to set intentions, plan your upcoming week out in a planner, are working on a manuscript, or filling out a dream journal ��� do all of your writing outside.

In fact, anything creative or expressive can be taken up to new levels of releasing and healing when they are done grounded ��� that���s why plein air painting is so cool!

Drawing, sketching, photography, journalling, writing, even boring tasks like filling out your daily, weekly or monthly planner or grocery list can all be done outside, grounded.

Here is are some blog posts I wrote for you that goes into detail on why grounding allows your soul creativity to soar and any soul wounds to release:

The Hidden Benefits Of Grounding: Why It Helps More Than Just Your BodyYour History Of Trauma Is Making This Pandemic Harder On You Than OthersHow Grounding Releases Trauma From Your Body To Protect Your Long Term Health

 

 

 

 

 

3. ��Hydrating:

 

Today, consider taking every single glass of water you drink outside and drink it grounded. ��It’s a super easy way to have a few minutes of grounding each time that can add up to over an hour of grounded head-to-toe healing benefits.

Grounding boosts circulation and will get that beautiful fresh clean water into your body and into your organ systems more quickly, allowing you to rehydrate your beautiful body immediately. ��As a bonus, hydrating while being grounded outside actually boosts your conductivity too, so it���s win-win!

Here is a video I made for you on how to use the conductive power of water to get grounded:

Grounding Through Water, Indoors and Outside (Laura Koniver, M.D. The Intuition Physician)

 

 

 

 

4. ��Exercise:

 

If your 2022 goal is to get more movement and exercise into your life, you can bring almost every exercise outside and get double the benefits.

Not only is excerise great for protecting your lifespan, but doing your next yoga session, or HIIRT round, or next walk, outside grounded will add all of the health benefits of grounding to your exercise routine. ��You can even swim outside grounded and feel amazingly rebooted from head to toe, inside and out, as most in-ground pools (as well as the cement surrounding the pool) is grounded.

Here are some articles on why exercising grounded helps you get more bang for your buck:

Grounding & Reduced Muscle Soreness Medical StudyGrounding Immediately Supports Your Heart & Boosts Circulation

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. ��Eating:

 

We all need to eat to put the nutrients our earth offers us into our body to boost our health��� but if you can take your next meal outside and eat it grounded, you just added a therapeutic, anti-inflammatory benefit to time spent enjoying your food.

Grounding helps boost vagal tone and digestive function, decreases inflammation in the gut, increases digestion, peristalsis, absorption and even boosts the circulation of those nutrients all throughout your entire body, so eating grounded is the most natural way to bring nutrition into alignment with your body���s health. ��Any diet plan can be taken outside to eat in a natural way, grounded.

Here is a quick video I made for you on the benefit of eating grounded outside:

Why Your Gut Issues Won���t Go Away Without Grounding (Dr. Laura Koniver, MD, The Intuition Physician)

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. ��Breathing:

 

Even more crucial than eating, we all need to breathe the beautiful air that the earth provides. ��Many of us also find added benefit from intentional breathing practices like meditation. �� Taking intentional, deep breaths is a wonderful way to decrease stress and increase resiliency to the demands of your day.

If you already have a meditation practice, bring it outside. ��If you don���t meditate, you can still reap the benefits of a few deep breaths taken while grounding outside. ��Being grounded supports lung function and boosts oxygenation, so combining grounding with intentional breath work is another one of those win-win relationships that grounding brings to just about everything we do. ��(Bonus points if you blow bubbles as part of your breath work!)

To join me for a three minute grounded meditation right now, watch this video:

 

 

For more on how breathing supports your health, hop over to read this article I wrote for you with several great ideas on developing an intentional breathing practice that you can do outside, grounded:

You Have The Healing Power Of Breath Inside You Right Now��� Here���s 5 Ways To Use It

 

 

 

 

 

7. ��Socializing:

 

If your friend wants to spend time with you, take the initiative and suggest hanging out together outside. ��Having friends you can connect with is one of the best things you can do to boost happiness and protect your longevity, and connecting with them outside is the best combination of all.

I love to do outside activities grounding with my friend Stacey, and I’ve even created a few videos to give you a sneak peak as some of the fun things we’ve tried:

PaddleboardingOutdoor NiaSauna & Grounding

 

Moving your time spent together outside allows you to get grounded while connecting on a deeper level with your loved ones, and really almost anything you can think of to do inside can be done outside. ��From playing a card game, to having a cup of coffee, to sharing a potluck meal, to talking while watching clouds roll by or stars twinkle overhead, to going on a walk together, to sharing a picnic meal��� anything you want to do with your friend is better grounded outside.

Medical studies like this one below (and others, like the one I blogged about for you last week) show that your mood is boosted by time spent outdoors, so grounding outside while spending time with friends is sure to help that time be even more fun:

The Effect of Grounding the Human Body on MoodA New Study Explains Why Grounding Boosts Your MoodBoost Your Connection To Others And It Will Boost Your Health, Here���s How

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. �� Dating:

 

If your partner wants a date with you, make sure some component of that date is outside, grounded. ��Hold hands and both partners will be grounded, or even ground through a kiss! ��Being outside, especially in the daytime, can even boost libido as it helps balance and regulate hormones.

Here are a few other articles I���ve written for you about the power of grounding to enhance your relationship:

The Healing Power Of Grounded TouchLight Exposure Quickly Improves Libido

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. ��Parenting:

 

Carving out time to play with your child in activities that interest them is absolutely crucial to bonding with kids. ��Play time is important healing time, and you can dramatically boost the healing value of play by taking that activity outside to do it grounded.

From arts and crafts, to sports and activities, to simply having a snack and talking, or reading a bedtime book under the wonder of the nighttime sky. ��You���ll worry less about any messes you guys make, and you���ll be getting a health boost the entire time. ��And of course, this includes your fur babies as well, so spend time outdoors with your pets too!

Here are some articles I���ve written for you on the power of grounding to enhance your children���s health:

Electrical Grounding Improves Vagal Tone in Preterm InfantsThe Healing Role Of Play, Right Now It���s More Important Than EverTo Stay Young, Stay Curious (& Dozens Of Other Ways To Protect Your Brain)

 

I also have written and published three children books for you so far��� you can find these on my website here (or of course on Amazon and anywhere books are sold!)

Lastly for more parenting support I have a totally free Parenting eBook for you right here.

It has 17 chapters and 159 pages of ideas, concepts, games, suggestions, medical information, intuitive problem solving and uplifting parenting advice that help address health and life in a positive and re-affirming manner for children, including how I inspire my own children to reach for health, even during illness... filling them with the confidence that health is their natural state of being.

Enjoy the precious time you have while your kids are still little enough to want to play with you��� soak it in!

 

 

 

 

 

10. ��Work:

 

I challenge you to think of three daily activities you do for work that can actually be done outside.

First of all, anything you get done on your phone for work, from research, reading, posting on social media platforms, marketing, weeding through emails, returning phone calls, returning texts and even your next zoom meeting can all be done outside. ��If any part of your work is done on a laptop, all of that can be moved outside as well. ��In addition, any reading or writing that you do, plus planning or scheduling that you do, can all be done outside.

I make it a point to attend most of my online medical conferences outside so that I���m learning the latest medical advancements while allowing my body time to get grounded. ��If your boss has catch up work for you to do and you���ll be up late tonight on your laptop, take it outside and at least make this time your body gets to be grounded.

Here are some additional articles on the power of grounding to reduce work stress:

Grounding To Prevent��Stress And Oxidative Damage While At WorkGrounding At Work Decreases FatigueIs Going Outside Part Of Your Daily Health Routine? 8 Reasons Why It���s EssentialWhen You Are Doing Something Meaningful, Your Brain Works BetterA Free Printable Tool To Give You Inner Clarity When Making Difficult Decisions17 Ways To Naturally Decrease Your Stress (+ A Few Freebies To Help)Background Noise Costs You More Than Just Your Peace & QuietIs Your Job Driving You Crazy? You Are Not Alone. Here���s Help.

 

 

 

 

Add your own ideas to this list ��� include all your hobbies too!

Play an instrument? ��Take it outside.Like to play chess? ��Do it outside.Have a pet? ��Play with them outside.Like embroidery? ��Take it outside.Doing something boring like meal planning for the week? ��Do it outside.Love to read? ��Do it outside.Perfecting a handstand? ��Do it outside.Love listening to music? ��Listen to it outside.

Run through your entire day from start to finish and decide what can be taken outside. ��Even if it is simply to start and end each day drinking a big glass of water outside ��� oh my goodness that���s PERFECT.

Almost anything you can think of to do ��� from fun and games, to connecting with friends and family, to eating and hydrating, to exercising and physical therapy, to yoga and meditation, to journaling and creating, to getting work done���

���you can do it all while in the healing state of grounding. ��Let���s do this!

If you enjoyed this list of ideas to get you grounded and on a healthy trajectory for 2022, please join me in my upcoming grounding online class:

 

Join my Earth Connect Class: ��starts on April 18th

 

 

The earth is out there waiting for us. ��It’s waiting for you. ��It’s waiting for me.

Our planet��offers you so many different ways to stay healthy and strong, from the air you breathe to the water you drink to the food that we eat��to the land that��supports our homes, cars, communities and life as we know it to thrive��� but the most direct way to get support from the earth is to touch it directly through grounding.

Every single day in my Earth Connect class will bring you a new, uplifting, inspiring way to ground your body and support your innate health.

Have any questions about grounding? ��About what is the best way to ground for a particular health concern you have? ��How to ground inside your home? ��How to ground if you don’t have a yard? ��How long to ground for? ��How grounding works? ��Why grounding works? ��If so, this class is perfect for you — ask me any question at all about grounding and how it supports your body and I will answer you in our private class Q&A.

Join me in this two week course and get materials, tips, and ideas for grounding that you can use again and again and again, for the rest of your life.

And stay tuned for my blog post next week, where am going to run through all of the outdoor surfaces that will ground you, and some that you might think are grounding you but don’t! ��See you then…

xoxox, Laura

 

The post 10 Activities You’ll Probably Do Today That You Should Definitely Take Outside appeared first on Intuition Physician.

18 Fresh Ideas To Get You Outside, Protected & Grounded This Spring

 

 

 

We are coming up on the spring equinox here in the northern hemisphere, which will be this Sunday, March 20th.

Spring weather usually means folks are more likely to get outside, get active, go on walks, resume hiking and biking and jogging, plant springtime gardens, catch up on yard work, take food outside to eat on picnics… ��you name it. ��Getting outside in that fresh air is so very good for you.

And you know what is even better for you than that? ��If you can be grounded while doing all of your favorite springtime activities.

And you can be, even without going barefoot.

Today I am sharing a round up of all of my favorite ways that you can wear shoes, sandals and flip flops this spring and summer and still be powerfully grounded to the earth outside, enhancing your health. ��I���ve thoroughly tested them all for you ��� confirming with my grounding test meter that the footware I share with you in this article truly works.

Let���s get started!

 

 

1.��Wear grounding flip flops: Harmony 783

 

 

Harmony 783 has grounding flip flops that were actually the first pair of grounding shoes I ever owned, and I still wear them!

Available for both men and women, HARMONY783 flip flops are contoured for style and comfort and features a proprietary carbon and rubber plug embedded into the outer sole connecting to the insole. These plugs sit under the weight-bearing part of the foot to firmly connect you to the earth, with arch support embedded into the interior sole for additional support and comfort.

Beyond flip flops, they have sneakers, loafers, walkers, hiking boots, trail shoes and even high tops… all available in both Mens and Womens styles. ��The lace up walkers and trail hiking shoes are are my go-to recommendation for hikers, dog walkers, and really anyone who needs or prefers a stable and cushioned foot bed on their foot while being grounded.

Check out all of their footwear options right here.

 

 

 

2.��Wear grounded slip on shoes: Raum

 

 

Ethically made, individually hand crafted leather shoes that are minimalist in design and come in closed toe slip on designs in tons of colors, for both men and women.

Raum shoes have a zero-drop sole made from a porous water buffalo leather. The sole is made extra conductive by absorbing the earth���s moisture and your perspiration. ��In addition, a copper metal grommet located behind the ball of your foot at the KD 1 pressure point provides maximum conductivity to ground your body.

I particularly appreciate that these shoes are hand sewn, because most shoes on the market are simply glued or cemented together, not hand stitched. ��So your feet mold into the leather over time to create an amazing level of comfort that brings you back into alignment with how your foot feels and functions best.

If you are looking for a slip on shoe that is minimalist in design (read: a non-cushioned footbed that allows feet to stay in their natural alignment) in a large selection of colors, then you want Raum shoes.

 

 

3. Wear grounding sandals: Groundz

 

 

I���m so impressed with Groundz and wanted to showcase their gorgeous sandal style shoes. �� These sandals are my warm weather staple — so soft and comfortable that these are my go to every day shoes.

And as you will see in the video I made for you at the end of this article, wearing open toed shoes whenever possible is extremely important for your foot alignment (and subesquently, for the health of your knees, hips and back over a lifetime!) so I typically reach for sandals or flip flops instead of a closed toe shoe whenever weather permits.

Groundz uses sustainably sourced and eco-friendly leather and goatskin throughout the sandals, chrome-free, water based and nontoxic vegetable dyes (very impressive) and a copper plug that is so comfortable I literally can not feel it. ��It���s so comfortable I had to check and double check that I was actually grounded in them ��� and yep, I am, every time!

They are also so beautiful I would want to wear them every single day even if they were not grounding me! ��And because I am a physician nerd, the cute little Copper Element tag on the top of my sandals make me smile every single time I slip them on. ��Here I am wearing them for you:

 

 

 

 

 

4. Wear grounding sneakers: Inner Mettle

 

 

 

Inner Meddle offers a grounded sneaker with a flexible sole for those who enjoy jogging and running and want to do it grounded. ��Although other grounding shoes may be eco friendly, all natural, use only non-toxic materials, or even be handmade��� Inner Meddle crafts grounding shoe that are made out of recycled everything:��recycled lycra,��recycled mesh, recycled vegan suede, and a shoe sole made of naturally biodegradable rubber.

I tested a pair out for myself and was strongly grounded on all natural surfaces, including rock, slate, dirt, sidewalk and grass. ��The shoe was designed in Europe, and features a flexible ultra-cushioned insole (with memory foam and cork) plus a fully conductive insole, midsole and outer sole ��� these all connect the healing earth energy directly to your feet. �� ��Check them out right here.

 

 

5. Wear grounding runners: Bahe

 

 

 

Bahe is the newest grounded sneaker system to hit the market, and you can pre-order them right here. ��Bahe crafts��vegan shoes that use recycled and plant-based materials for high performance and low environmental impact. ��They prioritize plant-based solutions that deliver optimum performance.

The outsole is made from 65% natural rubber from the hevea brasiliensis tree to reduce micro-plastic shedding, combined with a EVA midsole infused with 5% sugarcane. ��The footbed is 72% corn-based foam. ��To further reduce plastic use, the laces are made from organic cotton. ��The upper and lining both feature 30% recycled polyester, providing light weight, breathable performance:

high compression set midsole for long lasting performancefull rubber outsole tread designed for increased durabilitylightweight, high abrasion resistant fabricsindustry leading corn-polymer footbed for long term comfort

Multiple conductive features ensure a highly conductive grounding shoe:

graphene infused footbed with conductive stitchperformance insoles with conductive stitchsilver fibre webbing through midsolecarbon infused natural rubber outsole

You can find out more about Bahe running shoes right here.

 

 

6. ��Add grounding shoe stickers to shoes you already own:

 

 

 

I can���t think of much more eco-friendly option than to simply continue to use shoes you already own.

And if you love them, and they support your foot function best, why not convert your favorite��pair of sneakers, running shoes, hiking shoes, or even sports cleats into grounding shoes? ��A grounding sticker is the way to go.

The sticker is fully conductive and runs the grounding energy from the earth beneath you up and around your shoe and into the sole of your shoe where your feet are. ��By touching the sticker, you bypass the rubber sole entirely and are basically standing barefoot on the ground, conductively speaking.

I can���t even feel these stickers on my shoes. ��Find them here.

 

 

7. ��Wear grounding socks:

 

 

If you wear a grounding shoe sticker or any of the grounding shoes above, you���ll be grounded the moment you slip your bare foot into the shoe and stand outside on the earth.

But what if you like to wear socks?

Almost every sock manufactured on this planet will block the grounding flow from the grounded shoe because almost all socks have synthetic, non-conductive fibers or are too thick to allow grounding contact.

But it���s truly no problem to wear a sock with a grounding shoe or grounding shoe sticker, you just have to make sure it is a conductive sock. ��Luckily there are tons of beautiful socks made with conductive materials that will ground you instantly. ��I���ve got three styles for you to consider:

an athletic crew sock: thick, plush, absorbent, ankle length��a thinner dress sock: thinner, sleek, comfortable, crew length��� great for work or dress!and a compressive knee high sock: stretchy, warm, with the added bonus that they carry grounding all the way up your calves! ��My personal favorite.

I have thoroughly personally tested the conductivity of each sock style with a grounding test meter. Each sock utilizes silver fibers throughout every inch of the sock, so the entire sock is conductive from top to bottom. ��By wearing a��conductive sock with your grounding footwear, your entire sock will instantly encase your entire foot and ankle immediately in grounding energy, which will then powerfully ground your entire body from head to toe.

 

 

8. ��Prefer to ground through your hands?

 

 

 

Create A DIY Grounded Walking Stick

 

To easily ground right through your hands as you are outside exploring Mother Earth, you can simply hold onto a conductive walking stick!

I can personally hand make one for you, like the one I show above��� or you can grab a DIY kit to transform any cane, stick, even a broom handle into a conductive walking stick that will ground you from head to toe without you ever needing to touch the earth directly.

Keep your feet well protected in their hiking shoes and think hands instead!

 

 

9. ��Improve your foot alignment with toe alignment socks:

 

 

My feet instantly relax with these socks on, and as a bonus not only will the improve the health and alignment of your feet but they will also allow you to ground at the same time, thanks to the fact that your toes are still bare and ready to connect with the earth outside or a grounding mat while grounding indoors.

At the end of a long day, these are almost as good as a nice foot massage from a loved one. ��Almost. ��But infinitely more practical, because I can wear them while I���m standing in the kitchen making dinner and doing the dishes, and my feet feel stretched out and free by the time I���m done.

I always smile when I pack up an order that someone has placed for these toe alignment socks and some magnesium lotion��to go along with them ��� it���s just the sweetest little duo and I always imagine how good the recipient is going to feel after working some magnesium lotion onto their feet and slipping into these socks.

 

 

10. ��Prep your feet for better conductivity:

 

 

I’m asked all the time: ��Is there anything I can do to enhance grounding?

And the answer is YES!�� There are several things you can do to make your body even more conductive and ready to ground:

stay well hydratedcorrect any mineral deficienciesremove dead skin from your bodyand have well moisturized skin.��

In the human body, conductivity requires two things: water and electrolytes.�� This creates an electrolytic solution that can pass the flow of an electric potential from cell to cell to cell, spreading instantly throughout your entire body.��

If you are dehydrated or mineral depleted, you decrease your body���s conductivity.��

So, to help you enhance your body’s natural conductivity and get you as connected as��possible to the earth outside, I’ve pulled together 6 of my favorite products that will have your grounding sessions more powerfully healing than ever before. ��

Solid wood, natural bristle dry brushSolid wood, double sided foot fileMineral rich moisturizing and re-mineralizing��lotionToe alignment socksAll natural, non-nano mineral sun protection powder SPF 30Cedar oil spray bug repellant

There you have it, everything you need to make grounding outdoors the most wonderfully powerful, connected, conductive, safe and healing experience possible. ��Even if you have been grounding faithfully for a lifetime, this collection of items I have personally curated for you will give anyone’s��grounding practice a wonderful boost.

 

 

11. ��Need More Structure To Get You Outside Daily? ��

 

 

Use A Grounding Wellness Tracker:

 

This lovely, hardcover book is the perfect way to not only get inspired to start a grounding journey, but to create a three month plan of sticking to it.

With three months (90 pages) of daily grounding & wellness tracking prompts, along with areas for journalling thoughts, goals, and recording favorite memories, this journal is the perfect companion journal for starting a new chapter in your health.

I designed this journal because as a health care practitioner I know that three months is the perfect amount of time to begin to see both dramatic and subtle improvements in the way grounding can impact your long term health.

 

 

 

12. ��Need more motivation? ��Grab a pen and paper to test your foot health:

 

 

A Quick Way To Know If You Are Going Barefoot Enough

 

 

Want to know if you are getting enough barefoot time?If your feet properly aligned?If the alignment of your foot is giving you knee, hip and back pain?If the shoes you are wearing causing foot issues?And how can you reverse damage shoes have caused your feet?

With the two very simple tests that I demonstrate for you in the video above, you can test your own feet right now and you���ll know the answer to all of these questions! ��This exercise is extremely eye opening, and you can do it in less than 2 minutes, so I highly encourage you to give it a try right now.

 

 

 

13. ��Try This 3 Breath Meditation

 

 

 

 

This meditation is so simple, and it’s perfect to do while you are grounding because it relaxes you into the healing state of connecting to the earth. ��Especially during times when you feel uncentered, anxious, stressed or in a health struggle with your body… drop the resistance and find your grounded center in just a few breaths.

Follow along with me here to reset your body, mind and spirit through this grounded meditation. ��It’s super simple, it’s just placing a hand on your heart, a hand on your abdomen, dropping your awareness down into your body by closing your eyes, and repeating:��“I am at home in my body.”

Three breaths is enough to make a difference in your heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure, mood and more. ��If you want to do this meditation inside, grounded on the organic grounding mat I show you in the video, you can find that here: ��Organic Grounding Mat

 

 

 

14. ��Consider walking a labyrinth grounded:

 

 

 

In this video I take you into my favorite labyrinth and walk you through how powerful it is to ground during this special type of walking meditation. ��

I’ll also give you different ways to use a labyrinth as well as different ways to create your own — they can be incredibly simple and can be made anywhere just using a piece of chalk! ��Literally drawing a spiral with a piece of chalk on a sidewalk square, or simply walking up and down a line on your driveway, or using tape to create a line or spiral in your garage, all of these ideas can create a grounded walking meditation path that will literally transform your day.

Any cement, sidewalk, concrete surface outside is grounded, so anywhere you can kick your shoes off and walk a line or a spiral on a sidewalk or concrete will get you grounded without ever getting your feet dirty! ��For example. Walk up and down a sidewalk slowly. ��Walk back and forth across your driveway slowly. ��Draw a chalk spiral on your cement basement garage or basement floor to walk on. ��Or get fancy and use tape to create a labyrinth in your garage or basement on the concrete floor that you can use forevermore! ��This video shows how you can create a labyrinth out of masking tape, in just minutes.Of course, any dirt path outside would make a fabulous grounded meditation path, just slowly walk it up and back.And if you are lucky enough to have your own yard, you can even spray paint a little spiral on your grass to use it for several days in a row. ��If you love it you may be inspired to create your very own labyrinth path by laying stones or brick to create a personal labyrinth in your yard or garden. ��I know this is on my bucket list to do one day!

If you can take ten minutes to do this walking meditation daily ��� grounded ��� I believe with my whole heart it can change your perspective on your entire life, fill you with a sense of hope and fresh positivity, and help you feel physically better too.

 

 

 

15. ��Get started on a garden:

 

 

Many folks who embrace grounding are passionate gardeners, and understandably so… because being grounded while working a garden bed outside boosts your health instantly and you can literally feel it.

And even beyond the healing boost of being grounded, it���s actually healing just to be around plants of any kind, even while ungrounded… for example, just seeing a plant through a window or adding a potted plant to a workspace gives documented health benefits!����

Read through this article I wrote for you, ��listing��the top 9 perks of gardening and see if it doesn���t inspire even those of us who are non-gardeners to dive into this wonderful activity.�� From a windowsill garden to a flower bed to a large plot of farmland, gardening is more than a way to grow flowers and food��� it���s a lifestyle that can help ensure longevity and health. ��Click here to read this free article: Gardening Health Benefits

 

 

16. ��Go bird watching:

 

 

 

More evidence that Mother Nature can boost your happiness like nothing else can��� a new study suggests that bird diversity is as important to life satisfaction as an income is. ��This study��found that not only is happiness correlated with local bird diversity, but��a 10% boost in bird diversity actually increases happiness to a similar magnitude as a 10% boost in income does!

We���ve known for a while that animals improve our mood, health, and even boost longevity (I���ve blogged about how pets can do all of this and more for you right here)��and that��plants do much the same (see idea #15, above…) decreasing depression rates, anxiety rates, and dramatically reducing stress.

But even knowing all of that, I still think if you ask most people if they would rather see a couple extra birds today or earn a slightly higher paycheck, most would assume that money would provide more satisfaction.

But this actually isn’t true — click the link below to hop over to a free article I wrote for you telling you the details of this study and how to increase the amount of birds you see and hear: ��Hearing Birds Sing Is As Important As Your Next Paycheck

 

 

17. ��Keep more ideas right at your fingertips:

 

 

For more awesome year round grounding tips, you���ll want to grab the ultimate guide to grounding outside, no matter where you live or what the temperature is.

I���ve filled this book with my very best ideas to get you inspired to head outside in the hottest and coldest seasons, no matter if you live in a city or have any green spaces around you or not��� you can get grounded naturally to the earth and I���ll be right there with you, showing you how:

 

The Earth Prescription

 

I have signed copies waiting for you right here��� or find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, New Harbinger, and anywhere books are sold!

 

 

 

18. ��Want even more support directly from me?

 

 

Join my Earth Connect Class: ��starts on April 18th

 

I’ve developed this class to give you tons and tons of ways to incorporate grounding into daily life, so that no matter where you live, yard or no yard, urban or rural, no matter what the weather is… you can find ways to stay connected to the earth.

Our planet��offers you so many different ways to stay healthy and strong, from the air you breathe to the water you drink to the food that we eat��to the land that��supports our homes, cars, communities and life as we know it to thrive… but the most direct way to get support from the earth is to touch it directly through grounding.

Every single day you will get a new, uplifting, inspiring way to ground your body and support your innate health through grounding, perfect as we head into warmer spring and summer months. ��Class culminates in a private class Q&A, where I’ll answer every single question you’ve ever had about grounding.

Join me in this two week course and get materials, tips, and ideas for grounding that you can use again and again and again, for the rest of your life.

 

 

 

 

 

Our health reflects our planet���s health, and vice versa.

There is no getting around it.

And there is no better time to connect to our planet to support our collective healing than right now.��The earth has been gently asking for us to slow down and connect with her for a long, long time now. ��Let���s give the earth the reset she desperately needs��� because we need it too.

Are you ready to take healing the earth seriously?

Are you ready to take your own health seriously?

They are more intimately connected than you could ever have dreamed possible. ��Begin a grounding habit and within days, maybe even within minutes, you will feel that connection for yourself.

 

To a healthy spring full of outdoor grounding!xoxoxo, Laura

 

 

PS — is it turning colder instead of warmer where you live?

Read my winter grounding guide, filled with winter shoes and other cold weather grounding tips, right here: ��Grounding Outside In The Cold

 

The post 18 Fresh Ideas To Get You Outside, Protected & Grounded This Spring appeared first on Intuition Physician.

Heart Resonance: Why Attuning With Others Boosts Our Own Health

 

 

 

 

Well folks, this week I’m turning 48. ��And because I am so incredibly grateful for the love that is present in my life as I get closer and closer to a half century ride on this planet, I’m dedicating this blog post to the healing power of attuning our heart energy with each other.

We all intuitively can feel that connecting with others boosts our health, right? ��How much better do you feel after a warm hug from a friend, the comforting squeeze of a partner’s hand, or the joy of laughing around a dinner table with your children. ��Sharing space with a loved one for even one minute is enough to completely turn a bad day into a good one.

Medical studies have shown that increasing your connection to others not only improves your health, it actually increases your longevity. ��I feel this has something to do with the fact that we merge our natural energy fields together when we are close to one another.

We each produce our own healthy, natural EMF fields. ��Both the brain and the heart emit measurable energy fields, and it’s a beautiful thing. ��Which one do you think is largest and extends furthest from our bodies, the brain or the heart?

It’s the heart field.

 

 

 

When our heart energy fields are overlapping, we can become attuned to other, and we can literally feel when we are resonant (or discordant) with others.

Connecting to others is so important that it actually helps provide anesthesia to pain��� that���s how much physical closeness helps. ��

A medical study (published in 2018 in the Proceedings Of The National Academy of Sciences) showed that simply holding hands provided significant analgesia during pain. ��Another study, published in 2019 in Pain Management Nursing, found a simple hand massage reduced pain as well as provided longer pain free intervals in critically ill patients in a surgical intensive care unit.

Physical touch can even calm brain activity during distress, a study (published in 2006 in Psychological Science) found.�� In this study, brain activity was measured via a functional MRI while partners held hands with their spouse��� hand holding significantly reduced level of brain activity during painful stimuli.

 

 

��

Physical touch even has the power to lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, and calm respiratory rate.�� A study published in 2017 in Scientific Reports found when evaluating patients who had a pain event while being monitored via an ECG��� patients holding their partners hands had significant analgesia which resulted in lowered blood pressure, lowered heart rate response, and a lowered respiratory rate.��

Medical studies are just starting to reveal the healing power of physical touch:

physical touch has the power to reduce painphysical touch has the power to prolong pain free intervals (even in critically ill patients)physical touch has the power to calm brain activity during distressphysical touch has the power to lower heart rate and blood pressurephysical touch has the power to calm respiratory rate��

And all of these studies are just from touch the touch of a loved one. ��Connecting and attuning with each other, overlapping our heart energy fields with those that we love.

So when you fall in love, you are specifically overlapping your heart energy with your lovers heart energy. ��Your bodies naturally attune together. ��You grow in love as you grow in sync.

 

 

 

Energy matches, breath��matches, you literally become one energy field, together. ��As you attune together, you feel connected. ��They become your favorite person, an extended part of yourself.

I love that so much that I painted it. ��Here was my process:

 

1. ��I started by layering beautiful shades of green and teal in overlapping strokes for the background of the canvas:

 

 

2. ��After layering in some pinks and reds along side the blues and greens, I added two overlapping heartbeats:

 

 

3. ��The finished background looked like this:

 

 

4. ��Then I sketched in the outline of two people leaning into one another, attuning their heart energy:

 

 

5. ��Now the fun. ��I painted the heart energy fields of each, overlapping together:

 

 

6. ��And placed a beating heart — visible from behind — echoing out from the center of their chests:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attuning: Heart Fields Overlapping In Resonance:

 

 

It’s gallery wrapped, 18″ x 18′, and you can find more details about this painting here.

 

And it’s not just human beings who can attune with each other — do you have a beloved pet?

I absolutely did, a once-in-a-lifetime pup, and unfortunately she passed away about four months ago now. ��I still miss her every single day. ��And there is a reason why: our heart fields were attuned to one another for 17 years.

As I talked about in this blog post here, pets actually boost health and longevity, much like connecting to your favorite human. �� From walking your dog to��playing with your cat to letting your guinea pig or bird out of his or her cage for a little play time, pets provide us precious time bonding with a heart energy field that absolutely loves you unconditionally.

To read more about how pets help improve our health, including some very interesting medical studies that have been conducted on this, hop over to this article I wrote for you here:

Pets Boost Your Health For A Lifetime

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also recorded a podcast for you, on the power of an animal to decrease stress in our bodies after literally only 5 minutes (and not only that, but to decrease stress more effectively than other activities, such as coloring or taking a 5 minute break to relax!)

You can listen to that right here:

 

The Best 5 Minute Stress Reliever

 

 

In addition to attuning our heart fields together with our loved ones, I think another reason human connection is so healing is literally because we physically ground each other. ��Electrons are always flowing one way or another when you touch someone else, or they touch you.

Although the amount of electrons transferring is such a small amount relative to the amount of electrons in a human body, I believe this is in part why healing touch is so powerful. ��When you ���donate��� some of your electrons to someone who is in worse physical condition than you (such as someone in pain, or with an inflammatory process going on) you are supporting them in many ways.

I think this is part of what massage therapists, physical therapists, acupuncturists and other healers are doing when they touch you. ��Even your pet can donate electrons to you when it snuggles up with you while you are sick or have a chronic condition bringing you down.

For more information on how to use the healing power of grounding touch to support the health of your loved ones, read this blog post I wrote for you right here:

The Power Of Grounded Healing Touch

 

 

 

 

So the next time you are near someone you love, take a few minutes to drop down into your heart space and literally feel their energy. ��Over time you will get incredibly good at attuning with your loved ones, even matching your breathing to theirs without effort, calming and centering them as well as yourself.

Loved ones protect our health and buffer us from stress, so let’s become acutely aware of the precious heart energy of those we love and cherish the time that we are lucky enough to overlap them…

xoxox, Laura��Koniver MD

 

The post Heart Resonance: Why Attuning With Others Boosts Our Own Health appeared first on Intuition Physician.

What Happens To The Human Brain During EMF Exposures

 

 

Today I’d like to share with you some recent medical studies that help tell us what EMF exposures are doing to our brains.

First, let me tell you about an article published in Forbes last fall��which shows that even the United States Department of Defense is taking EMF radiation — and it���s effects on the human brain — seriously.

If you have teens, family members, co-workers, friends or other loved ones that scoff at you when you mention how cellphone radiation and other man-made EMF radiation sources are affecting your ability to think��� this is the blog post to share with them.

If they don���t listen to your kind and helpful suggestion that EMF exposures are something to be aware of and protect against, maybe they will take the Pentagon seriously.

The Pentagon is examining the disturbing possibility that high levels of ��EMF radiation in the cockpit may be affecting the mental judgment of pilots so much that it could be causing them to crash their aircrafts.

 

 

 

The issue is so pressing ��� with a published report that you can read right here — ��revealing that spatial disorientation causing 72 aircraft crashes in the US Air Force in the past 20 years (1993 ��� 2013) resulting in 101 deaths and a total monetary cost of 2.32 billion dollars ��� that the Pentagon has launched a new study looking into the impact of EMFs on the pilots ability to stay focused, to make clear and precise decisions, and to remain spatially oriented while in the cockpit while being subjected to extremely high EMF levels.

The new study is called: Impact of Cockpit Electro-Magnetics on Aircrew Neurology (ICEMAN), and I will absolutely keep you posted about and and all results from this study as they are revealed. ��The study has a tentative completion date in 2024.

You can read all about this study and the different phases that the Department of Defense will be analyzing right here.��

Phase 1 of this study will identify and measure the EMF exposures of pilots in the cockpit, and��Phase 2 of the study will assess mitigation strategies (basically ��� shielding the pilots from the cockpit EMFs to see if shielding is effective at improving pilots ability to think more clearly, stay focused and accurate, and ultimately prevent mistakes and fatalities.)

 

 

 

 

What does this mean for the rest of us?

Well first of all, it tells you that even though your friends and family, and maybe even your own physician may not be aware of the harmful effects on human health that man-made radiation exerts, at least you know that the mental confusion, brain fog, headaches and irritability you experience when using a cell phone, spending time on your computer, surrounded by WiFi in urban environments, near cell phone towers and smart meters and more��� is not all in your head.

In fact, we���ve known since 2011 that electrical signaling in the brain is what gives us the ability to maintain focused attention.

This is one of the reasons the government is looking into EMF exposures as an explanation for what is distracting the Air Force pilots and contributing to spatial disorientation and death. ��The Pentagon reveals that recent research they have conducted showed that ���human brains sense magnetic fields, and that this process is ���jammed��� (i.e., disrupted) by radio waves (RF), impacting brainwaves and behavior.���

So yep, any electrical signal that exherts an impact on normal brain function could considerably impact attention span ��� one reason why folks with autism, ADHD, ADD or other neurodevelopment disorders may have a sharp decline in functioning when subjected to man-made EMF fields, and why so many then improve functionality when screen time is limited, when shielding clothing is worn, when EMF sources (like gaming systems and cell phones) are removed from the bedroom and all other radiation sources (like routers in the home) are turned off at night.

 

 

 

 

The second thing this tells us is that even the government is aware of the necessity to come up with shielding solutions to protect the human brain from EMF exposures.

Those of us who are electrosensitive have already been aware of how drained and foggy we feel after prolonged exposures to man-made EMF radiation, and feel first hand that removing any sources of radiation that can be removed and shielding from the sources that can���t be removed can make an enormous world of difference.

An impressive medical study, published in 2017 in Immunologic Research,��followed 64 patients with autoimmune diseases (such as lupus and multiple sclerosis) while they slept shielded with a silver fabric sleep cap (like this one) over their heads, for a total of 8 hours of shielding in a 24 hour period.

The results? ��90% of the patients responded with a significant decrease in their autoimmune disease symptoms after shielding, which is��a strikingly dramatic reduction.

 

 

 

What is happening in the brains of those of us who are electrosensitive? A study published in 2017 in Reviews On Environmental Health��used functional MRI imaging to look at the brain of patients with electrohypersensitivity.

What they found was that in every single patient imaged, there were significant and measurable brain changes. ��The brain changes were so similar in all the patients that the researchers actually suggest that MRI imaging might be one way to help diagnose electrosensitivity. ��If you got an MRI for an electrohypersensitivity evaluation, your physician would be looking for brain changes such as hyperconnectivity in the medial orbitofrontal area.

These changes are similar to those seen in brain trauma, so are EMFs acting like a head injury to the brain of a electrosensitivity patient, or does a history of trauma to the brain make these brains particularly vulnerable to subsequent EMF hypersensitivity? ��More research is desperately needed in this area.

 

 

 

 

As important as it is to protect against man-made EMF exposures, it���s just as important to help reorient your brain ��� and get your body into it���s natural healing state ��� by deliberately infusing your body with the earth���s natural electromagnetic energy fields.

This healing practice supports the health and function of every single cell in your entire body, by getting it back into resonance with healthy, healing, natural electrical fields. ��Helping to mitigate the detrimental effects of man-made, artificial electrical fields.

This is done through grounding��� simply touching the earth.

So the next time you feel a headache come on after working on your laptop, or you feel your memory slip and you have trouble recalling your words as you talk on your cell phone, or you feel your brain go into a fog as you drive through an urban setting�����just remember, it���s not in your head.

If brain fog and confusion from EMFs can cause highly trained Air Force pilots to crash billions of dollars worth of aircrafts, its certainly worth waking up to how EMFs in our daily lives may be impacting our workplace productivity, the impact it may be having on car accidents, and the negative impact it may be having on our human to human relationships, as we disengage from our loved ones and surrender to EMF induced brain fog.

If you are feeling confused, tired, groggy, foggy, dizzy, or have headaches after spending time in urban environments, at work, after using your cell phone or computer, go outside and get grounded. ��Step away from the electronics and re-infuse your body from head to toe with the soothing, centering, natural pulse from the earth. ��It���s there to ground you and recharge you.

 

You may also want to consider carrying a very discrete, simple to use, 5G ready EMF detection meter that can instantly reveal to you how much RF exposures you are under any time, any where.

It���s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand (and tuck away in your purse or pocket for use on the go) and is specifically designed for people with Electrohypersenstivity (EHS) so that any time, any where you can know��their exposures in an instant.

Provides reliable detection of RF between 200 MHz and 8 GHz.

Checking your exposures as you travel, as you sit in a restaurant, as you hang out in your living room or bedroom, in your office or work space means that you can catch high EMF areas and moving away from them *before* you feel that headache, that dizziness, or that muscle tension creep in. �� ��Here is the one I like most.

 

 

 

 

And here’s the bottom line: you don���t have to be sick in order to understand what effects EMF exposures have on the human body and protect your long term health.

I’ve got a free resource for you to help, whether you are electrosensitive or not.

This article gives you tons of additional ways to decrease your current artificial man-made EMF exposures, ways to shield against exposures you can���t decrease, and ��� just as important ��� for ways to increase your exposure to healing, natural earth EMF fields through grounding.

In it I cover the effects of EMFs (including 5G) on the human body and ways to mitigate those man-made RF exposures, while increasing exposures to healthy, natural, supportive earth frequencies:

Your At Home Guide To Reducing EMF Exposures

 

 

 

Want more support, directly from me?

My Electrosensitivity Online Class just started this week, and it’s not too late to hop in.

Today is the last day to be added to the group, so if you’d like more information about the class, want to get honest and straight advice from your favorite physician (ahem… that’s me, right? ��Right?) and have me answer all of your EMF questions in my class Q&A recording, just click here to find out more and sign up.

Offered to you with much much love, tons of hope for the continued education and discovery of the effects of man-made radiation exposures on the human body, along with excitement over the many wonderful solutions we are actively creating.

And of course, I���ll keep you posted on all of these studies, and all of these solutions, right here on my newsletter.

Thank you for joining me.xoxoxox, Laura

 

The post What Happens To The Human Brain During EMF Exposures appeared first on Intuition Physician.

The Effects Of EMFs on Your Body & How to Naturally Defuse Them

 

 

This is a fundamental truth in medicine: the basis of how our body functions is through it���s conductivity.

Every single cell in your body is conductive, every single organelle inside of each cell, every single cell membrane, the extracellular fluid around each cell, the intracellular fluid inside of each cell��� yep, it���s all conductive.

Which is why grounding is so powerful ��� the moment one single cell in your body touches the earth, this amazing conductivity grounds your entire body from head to toe, just like flipping on a light switch ��� in one instant ��� ahhh���. you are grounded.

But exactly what makes our body grounded ��� the fact that we are ��highly conductive ��� is why we need to protect that exquisite conductivity, and also explains why you may literally feel the affects of ambient EMF fields around you.

 

 

 

 

Everything from your thoughts to your feelings to your sensory experiences to your heartbeat to your breath to your speech to your digestion to every blink of your eyes is all only possible because you are conductive.

So while natural earth EMFs soothe and heal you, bathing your conductive body in the supportive energy field of the earth, manmade EMFs disrupt and sicken you, artificially imposing polarized disruptive radiation fields around you.

Many people ��� I���d say maybe even most people ��� feel uncomfortable sensations when they are in the presence of strong EMF fields.

Do you notice you ever feel these symptoms after being on your computer, or cell phone, or near your router, or in an area with wifi?

stinging or tinglingheadachedecreased concentrationvertigo/dizzinessdisorientationtinnitus/ringing in the earsskin sensitivity or reactionsrestlesnessinsomniamood changes, including anxiety or depressionfatigueheart palpitationsmuscle pain/tension

 

 

 

 

Recent medical research has found this to be true ��� millions of people are affected by electrohypersensitivty��and in population-based surveys, the prevalence of electrohypersensitivity (EHS) ranges from 1.5% of the population (found in Sweden) up to 13.3% (found in Taiwan.)

Even going with the lowest commonly agreed upon prevalence of perception (0.1% of the population, or 7 million people) this is roughly the same worldwide incidence of many other illnesses that no one would ever brush off��� ��a quick look through the WHO Global Burden of Disease report shows that this incidence is similar to the incidence of stroke, for example.

Electrosensitivity is more common than congestive heart failure.

It is more common than Parkinson���s disease.

It is more common than breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer combined.

So yeah, let���s not ignore this huge population of electrosensitive individuals and instead let���s address the fact that we are all highly conductive (whether we feel symptoms from it or not) and take steps to protect our conductive health.

How? ��It���s simple.

 

 

 

 

The natural opposite of man-made EMFs are the natural earth made EMFs��� and you can easily access these through grounding.

Grounding helps mitigate the effects of EMFs and rebalance your conductive health. ��It gives you results you can feel��� grounding helps to:

boost mooddecrease anxietydeepen sleepdecrease paindecrease inflammationdecrease blood pressureboost cardiac functiondecrease muscle tensionimprove digestionimprove immune functionand on and on��� pretty much the exact opposite effect that manmade EMFs have on our body

 

Today I want to share a free printable for you. ��I created this for my electrosensitivity class, and I���m sharing it freely with you here today. ��So be sure to take advantage of this and forward it to everyone you know who could benefit from seeing directly how manmade EMFs and natural grounding are connected and why!

Simply click the button below for a free printable version that you can study and even tape to your door, reminding you to go outside daily to get grounded!

 

 

 

 

Manmade EMFs and Earthing EMFs are Yin & Yang to each other ��� each one affecting our body because of our highly conductive living tissues.

So today, and every day, head outside for at least a few minutes to rebalance your conductive health.

It doesn���t have to be for long ��� grounding is as instantaneous as flipping on a light switch. ��When you turn on a light, the entire room is illuminated ��� and that���s exactly what happens when one cell in your body becomes grounded: your entire body becomes grounded.

While there are cumulative benefits over time to grounding, there is really no time that is too little for grounding, either.�� I never want you to miss an opportunity to be grounded just because it���s might only be for 30 seconds while you stop at a street crossing, or lean against a tree while you take a break during lunchtime, or when you stop for a second to pull a weed out from a garden bed.

 

Within seconds your skin surface conductance has changed throughout your entire body and your muscle tension has decreased.�� As seconds turn to minutes, your brain and vagal tone have gotten a calming boost from grounding, and you might notice pain decreases and mood lifts.�� Over time, as minutes turn to hours, your metabolic processes get a boost and your circulation (which supports every single organ system in your body) is running more smoothly.�� Grounding day after day means nighttime sleep is more restorative, stress hormones normalize, inflammation decreases, and health benefits begin to accumulate, often resulting in noticeable health benefits on a large scale.

 

Grounding daily to reset the conductive health of your body is essential ��� it is not enough simply to remove EMF insults, you must replace those toxic frequencies with the natural healing frequency from the earth.

Luckily, the human body is an incredibly resilient force of nature and we naturally go back to vibrant health when we allow our body to bounce back by giving it time to heal between insults. ��Often by making a few small changes, you can feel relief ��� literally overnight.

The basis of life is a natural ability to repair and recover and a natural adaptability as well.

Your body simply needs time and space, away from a constant toxic onslaught, to do so.

This is even more crucial for those of us who are electrosensitive.

I truly hope today���s article helps to reassure you exactly what you are feeling when you notice symptoms of electrosensitivity, as well as get you started with one simple solution to help you feel better than you���ve ever felt: get grounded outside.

 

 

 

Need more support?

If your in person physician is not able or willing to offer guidance on how to use conductivity to help heal you (grounding) and how to protect your conductivity to minimize damage (electrosensitivity) I am here to help.

Next week, I am running a class to teach you everything you need to know to protect your conductive health and lower your EMF exposures.

I don���t know why we are so late to formally diagnose and treat EHS in the USA, but throughout Europe and in Canada you can get a formal diagnosis and even disability support, including letters from your physician to request employers and schools to accommodate your needs (and your children���s needs) to reduce EMF exposure and safeguard your health.

Physicians can write:

letters requiring employers to provide you with a hardwired ethernet connectionrecommendations to your employer to have you work in a place that is furthest from the wifi routerletters to school educators to seat children in the class seat that is furthest from routerletters to school educators to create a cell phone free classroom, with all cell phones put on airplane mode at the beginning of classletter to school educators requesting they allow students intermittent times to go outside and ground to the natural energy of the earth to help offset EHS symptoms

You don���t have to wait for your local health care professional to get on board with diagnosing and treating electrosensitivity, I’ll show you how you can advocate for yourself and protect yourself regardless.

I developed this class to teach you everything you need to know about your conductive health ��� including both positive ways to boost your conductive health through safe grounding practices, as well as ways to protect your conductive health through lowering your EMF exposures.

In this online class I will even walk you through how to get your own, in person physician comfortable with diagnosing EHS and writing those recommendations listed above on a Rx for you to hand to your employer or you child���s teacher.

 

 

 

 

It���s absolutely possible to be EHS and safeguard your health, while still living in the modern world. ��I walk you through exactly how to do it, starting with a self assessment tool that will help you��figure out if you are electrohypersensitive (EHS) and walk you, step by step, through all of your living spaces to making them safer for you and your entire family.

Plus I give you tons of encouragement and additional tools to boost your health, decrease the reactivity and inflammation in your body, as well free��printables and worksheets that you can keep forever, as well as lots of medical literature to validate exactly what you are experiencing and why.

No longer will you be brushed aside and told that your legitimate, valid ability to perceive electrical currents and EMF fields imposed on your body are simply a ���detox��� to ignore.

Nope. ��In this 7 day online class we will go over together:

Day 1: What is electrosensitivity and how to assess if you are electrosensitiveDay 2: Removing the exposures you can remove (I���ll walk you through it!)Day 3: Reducing the exposures you can further reduce (let���s do it together!)Day 4: Shielding from any remaining exposures: key concepts & actions to takeDay 5: Grounding to rebalance��your��conductive health with natural earth��EMFsDay 6: Boosting��your body���s resiliency to mitigate the symptoms you may already be feelingDay 7: How to talk to your physician about further in person diagnosing &��treatment of EHSBONUS: Custom recorded class Q&A session

 

Reserve your spot today and take action to protect your well being (and forward this to your family and loved ones so they can take it with you!)

Taking this with an accountability buddy is a great idea so you can encourage each other and stick with it. ��And I���ll be your ultimate accountability partner, walking beside you the entire way:

 

 

It absolutely doesn���t have to be overwhelming.

I���ll make sure you feel empowered by this information, not scared.

To your incredibly resilient health!

xoxo, Laura Koniver, MD

 

 

The post The Effects Of EMFs on Your Body & How to Naturally Defuse Them appeared first on Intuition Physician.

Valentine’s Day Special Edition: Heart Health From Every Angle… Mind, Body & Soul

 

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Our minds and our hearts are inextricably intertwined.

Mostly we can feel this on an emotional level — we can literally feel the people we love making our hearts feel warm and protected and expand in our chest. ��And sadly even people we are hurt by or scared of, we can feel that too — our hearts can feel colder or constricted or pound with fear in our chests.

Some of you are also aware that electrically — the brain and the heart each have an electrical field and that these electrical fields overlap. ��This gives our brain’s electrical activity (thinking) and heart’s electrical activity (heartbeats) a direct electrical link to each other, meaning our minds are literally energetically linked to our hearts.

It’s so beautiful:

 

 

 

But as a physician I want you to know that even biologically, as discrete, individual physical organ systems, there is a direct messaging through the physical body between the heart and the mind such heart issues can literally cause psychological issues and vice versa.

This is the least understand interaction between the heart and the mind, but recent medical studies are starting to clarify this heart/mind connection. ��In fact, in medicine we now recognize this exquisite connection between the heart and the mind that has given birth to a new field of medicine, called Behavioral Cardiology.

Behavioral Cardiology is an important field, because if we improve psychological health, we improve heart health. ��And if we improve heart health, might we improve psychological health? ��I believe so.

First of all, we clearly see that stress affects heart — acute psychological stress directly increases the risk of sudden heart attack and cardiovascular death. ��So much so that anxiety is actually a cardiac risk factor for heart attack and cardiac death, and depression increases risk of both fatal and non-fatal heart attack as well. ��If you’d like to read a medical review looking at all of the medical literature to date on mood disorders and cardiac health this one, published in 2000 in the Archives Of Internal Medicine, is a good one to start with.

Another, very interesting study looking at how our heart responds to mental stress found a��key difference between the way a woman���s heart responds to stress and the way a man���s heart responds to stress. ��Published��in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology on Dec. 21, 2017, researchers found that there is an incredible difference between how a woman���s cardiovascular system responds to mental stress and how a man���s cardiovascular system responds to mental stress.

Researchers studied 678 patients with coronary artery disease��and preformed��myocardial perfusion imaging before and during a��well known stressor: public speaking. ��I get so anxious with public speaking that I totally agree it’s the perfect setting to see how the heart reacts to perceived emotional stress. ��After obtaining the results of the cardiac perfusion study both at rest and during public speaking, researchers analyzed data from several different parameters of cardiac output and perfusion to see what affect the stress had on heart health.

The Results:

Turns out, men responded to the mental stress of public speaking by having a larger change in blood pressure, and a higher demand on the cardiovascular system to increase output. ��The increased cardiac output demands put the men at greater risk for heart attack.Women were the opposite. ��Women responded to the mental stress of public speaking by having greater peripheral vasoconstriction (meaning the blood vessels constricted more, which limits the blood flow through them.) ��The increased vasoconstriction puts women at greater risk of heart attack as well, but for an entirely different reason than men.

 

 

 

Men respond to stress with an increased��demand for blood flow, and while��the heart works harder in an attempt to pump more blood out, this creates a mismatch in how much blood can reach the tissues and the result is a heart attack.

Women respond to stress with decrease in the peripheral perfusion do to increased vasoconstriction, which puts them at higher risk for ischemic heart attack.

In other words, the male���s heart��demands more output��during stress��while a��female���s vasculature constricts more during stress —��and both responses put everyone at increased risk of heart attack during emotional stress.

Same end result, but different pathways.

And this is important because we can now start to tailor treatments to help really target and promote healing during stress, illness, depression. ��These studies suggest that men may be most helped by targeting inflammation and stress management treatments, while women might be most helped by immune boosting and circulation boosting therapies.

For example, perhaps men might benefit more from:

lowering blood pressure with supplementsdecreasing inflammation through groundingand stress reduction techniques of meditation, acupuncture and yoga.

While women, with the same heart disease, anxiety or depression that men have, might benefit more from:

supplements that target boosting immunitytherapies that heal leaky gut and other autoimmune pathwaysalong with exercises designed to boost circulation and perfusion like walking, aerobic exercise, hot yoga, even deep tissue massage.

This is just one example of countless different treatment plans that you and your physician could come up with, targeting specific pathways that are unique to you now that we know a little more about the stress response differences between men and women.

 

 

 

This medical study, published in 2017 in Lancet,��tried to uncover exactly why there is this direct correlation between stress and heart attack, in both men and women. ��It turns out, increased brain activity in the area of emotional processing (the amygdala) directly increases the risk of cardiovascular events.

This study was the first to show that increased amygdala activity in humans strongly predicts cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack and angina. ��Researchers followed��293 patients who underwent full body PET/CT scans at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. ��The measured resting metabolic activity in the amygdala, bone marrow and arterial walls.

Researchers found that increased activity in the amygdala was strongly correlated with increased arterial inflammation and increased risk of cardiovascular events during an average follow up period of 3 1/2 years. ��They also found that high levels of self rated stress correlated with increases in amygdala activity, higher levels of arterial inflammation, and higher levels of the blood inflammatory marker: C-reactive protein.

Finally, a physical explanation for the very real connection between the emotional center of our brain and our heart health. ��The amygdala is responsible for processing emotions, survival instincts and memory.

That about sums up how stress feels: it���s an increased emotional load, a feeling of being overwhelmed when trying to navigate a stressful��situation, and traumatic memories from the past all get linked up with traumatic present experiences ��� which come together��to increase the metabolic activity in your amygdala.

 

 

 

 

Based on these studies, researchers now believe that it is actually the brain activity of the amygdala (and emotional stress in particular) that links stressful events with cardiovascular disease ��� causing increased vascular inflammation, increased cardiovascular disease and increased risk of stroke, heart attack and angina.

More recently, published in 2021 in JAMA Cardiology, researchers specifical studied the link between heart disease and women with a history of trauma. ��Because most studies on heart disease have focused on the male population, this one really caught my eye.

Looking at almost 400,000 women, researchers identified women diagnosed with PTSD and matched them to age and cardiovascular risk correlated female controls with no history of PTSD. ��They then looked at ischemic heart disease outcomes, including new onset coronary artery disease, angina or heart attack (myocardial infarction) over a 5 year follow up period.

Researchers found that a history of PTSD in younger females increased the risk of developing subsequent heart disease by almost 60%. ��Yuck. ��A history of trauma pretty dramatically increases the risk of lasting heart health issues long term.

 

 

 

 

To me, this study serves to underscore how very strongly our mental and emotional state affect our well being.

The link between stress and heart attack, stroke, and angina is so pronounced that researchers are now advocating stress levels, a history of anxiety, and a history of depression to all be considered independent risk factors for heart disease, along with other classic cardiac risk factors such as age, smoking history, and family history of heart disease.

And a study published in 2016 in Circulation��shows that this idea has real world applications and uncovers some very helpful solutions. ��Researchers followed over 150 patients who were assigned to have cardiac rehab care following a cardiac event, and found that by adding stress management skills into their cardiac rehab program they were able to slash the rate of future cardiac events in a 5 year follow up period IN HALF!

So if addressing stress reduces the risk of subsequent heart attack by 50%,��now we know why: stressful brain activity is��directly correlated with cardiovascular events.��Reduce the stress response in the brain, reduce heart disease in the body.

 

 

Because there is so much interconnection between your heart and your mind, you can use this information to enhance the longevity of your heart from so many angles��� medically, spiritually, energetically, and emotionally.

On an energetic level, as an intuitive physician I can confirm this..,. you can boost the health of your heart on ��medical, spiritual, emotional and energetic levels if you can release the barriers stress has placed around you.

To help show you this, I tore a page out of my old med school anatomy book and painted it for you:

 

 

(this original artwork has sold.)

 

 

We have a heart to pump blood (and thereby deliver oxygen and nutrients) to every part of our body. ��It���s function is absolutely critical to life. ��The heart is composed of a mass of muscle cells who���s function is to work together to deliver the vital nutrients, oxygen and fluids in our blood to our entire organism.

So what is the one thing your heart needs in order to do all this, in order to function at all? ��Flexibility.

The heart���s strength is it���s ability to expand and contract. ��Without it, we have no heartbeat at all.

If your heart is brittle, stiff, unmoving… it can���t work. ��It absolutely needs to have flexibility in order to maintain it���s strength. ��And this is exactly what happens with our heart physically. ��As a response to chronic inflammation, our blood vessels become coated with plaques (atherosclerosis)��but these plaques, instead of strengthening our vessels, actually strangulate them. ��The more coated, the thicker the walls, the higher the risk of heart attack.

But this is also what happens with our heart energetically, and it is where we get our the power — from a heart that is full of love, infused with life, flexible, bending and free.

If your heart is hardened, if you are protecting yourself by building walls, if you are living life defensively, how can your heart spread joy and health freely to your entire body?

Protecting ourselves comes at a price. ��Building walls brings a brittleness, a false strength that can suffocate that which you are trying to protect.��With your own flexibility gone, you lose your power. ��Far more powerful is the heart that can open fully and contract fully��� that can feel fully.

So if�� your heart is feeling brittle, limited, stiff, hardened, or empty… nurture your own heart first. ��Begin with flexibility. ��Allow your thoughts to expand, give yourself the flexibility to allow multiple points of view, the vulnerability to be hurt, and the strength to bounce back even stronger.

Give yourself a little love.�� A little softness.�� A little forgiveness.�� A little flexibility.

Flexibility is what makes your heart strong. ��Powerful flexibility of the heart is what feeds your entire body, infusing it with life sustaining nutrition, oxygen, and fluids.

Here is another artwork I created using my same med school anatomy book, this time showing you the pathway towards restoring heart health.

I added one of my favorite Rumi quotes to it to remind us to focus on flexibility and openness to restore heart health:

 

 

This artwork is available right here

 

So, with the focus on flexibility and embracing our core strength by being open and pliable��� where can our hearts take us?

To the very opposite of being constricted, walled in, brittle��� expansion, pure expansion!

Our hearts are the center of our ability to expand��� expand beyond just ourselves, and beyond just our limited experience, and expand beyond just this situation.

We can feel our connection to others, and our eternal nature. ��Our heart center expands outwards in a powerful, measurable energy field, right from the center of our being. ��In fact, our heart���s energy field is actually bigger than our brain���s measurable energy field, and maybe even best of all, they overlap.

You can literally feel this in your body. ��Have you ever sat, focusing on something that made you so happy that you literally felt your heart grow larger and larger and larger still?

Have you ever felt that your chest was going to explode, your heart energy got so big?

Have you ever felt your heart vibration reach past your chest, past your body, reach into the space around, to the people around you, to the universe around you?

It feels so good, and it feels so good because it is the healthy state of being connected to all of the energy around you.

You are dropping the limited barriers of what defines *you* and reaching out to *all that is*��� in this state, you are pure, positive joy. ��In this state, you have blown up all the barriers around your heart, the ones that you built to *protect you* that actually harm you��� they are dissolved and meaningless.

You are greater than this one moment in time, this one body, this one lifetime.

Through your heart, you can expand past any problem, any limitation. ��Through your heart, you can connect to all that is physical and non-physical around you. ��Through your heart, you can *feel* the eternal connections that you can���t physically see with your eyes.

 

 

 

Your heart is an amazing electrically activated organ, designed to pump nutrition and health throughout your entire body. ��It���s designed to pump joy and love throughout your entire being. ��It���s entire function is dependent on it���s ability to translate energetic impulses into a functional push of the blood throughout your body.

But do not limit your heart to what it physically can do. ��Do not regard it��as a piece of muscle designed to transport blood.��Instead, really *feel* the entire purpose of it���s design. ��It is the one organ, more than any other, that connects your entire body together ��� infusing every single organ system with life giving nutrients. ��It reaches every tissue, every surface, every organ. ��Through it���s immense meshwork of vasculature,��your heart is one of complete and utter connection.

Of expansion.

Physically expanding to reach every single cell in your body��� and emotionally, expanding your life force from the core of you to the universe around you.

To strengthen and expand your feelings of health and joy, remember back to those experiences where you feel your heart expanding, and seek to find those more often.

I felt them most intensely as a new mom, holding my babies. ��I can bring back that feeling any time I wish by remembering what it was like to hold them in my arms. ��To love on them. ��To take care of them. ��To adore them.

Recall your own times when your have felt your heart swell and reach for that feeling as often as you can. ��In this state you are realizing that the walls you build around your body and mind are no longer helpful, but instead, are constricting.

 

 

 

 

This picture was taken over a dozen years ago, and both my kids are now all grown up and off to college��� yet when I sit in appreciation for my children I can��literally still feel my heart pound against my chest just like it did when they were first born. ��I feel it expanding through my entire body, then out of my body, pulsing into the universe and connecting me to a greater love.

It is in these moments that I *know* I am tapped in to something more than just myself. ��And it is in these moments that I know my connection to my children is eternal.

Do what you can, today, to find a moment like this and savor it.

You have just found your heartsong.

Every moment you spend in that state, you spend in the state of pure and absolute health.

 

Want more holistic tips on heart health? ��I’ve written these free healing articles for you:

Grounding To Support Your Heart HealthHow Sleep Affects Your Heart HealthChocolate for heart health (yes, you heard me��� chocolate!)Boost Your Connection To Others And It Will Boost Your Health, Here���s How:Pets Boost Your Health For A LifetimeGrounding Immediately Supports Your Heart & Boosts CirculationEmotional Stress Directly Predicts Heart Attack��� 10 Ways To Prevent ItPrevent A Fatal Heart Attack NaturallyLatest Study Reveals Heart Protective Properties of CaffeineIs your drinking water harming your heart?

 

To a lovely Valentine’s week with a deeper understanding of just how beautifully intertwined your heart is with your brain and your emotions — lets fill all three with love.

xoxox, Laura Koniver, MD

The post Valentine’s Day Special Edition: Heart Health From Every Angle… Mind, Body & Soul appeared first on Intuition Physician.

What Is Stress Sensitization? It’s The Reason This Pandemic Is Traumatizing Us All

 

 

If you���ve had a history of trauma, or a history of greater stressors in your life before the coronavirus circled the globe (and honestly who hasn’t? ��Any serious illness or injury, the death of a loved one, a divorce, recent unemployment, increasing financial struggles, legal troubles, etc��� we all have them) then medical studies have actually shown that this pandemic actually is harder on you.

So if you feel like you are struggling to deal with the stressors that this global pandemic has caused, there is good reason. ��It’s not you. ��It’s your trauma.

We���ve known for a while that a history of trauma makes subsequent traumas more likely to cause PTSD.

��A study published in 1999 showed that a history of trauma increases the risk of getting PTSD with a subsequent traumaand a study published in 2008 backed this up by finding that a history of trauma increases not only the risk of getting PTSD but also the risk of developing depression (Major Depressive Disorder, also known as MDD) when faced with a new trauma.

This medical study (published in June 2020) takes it one step closer: researchers looked at folks with a history of trauma and their response to a natural disaster.

The natural disaster studied was a major earthquake that struck the coast of Chile, killing over 500 people and displacing over 800,000 people. ��The researchers had already assessed 3,000 of residents for the history of trauma, the presence of PTSD and MDD, and had completed a questionnaire measuring how many major stressful life events a participant had endured.

Then, a year after this study was initiated, residents faced a deadly natural disaster in the form of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. ����A year after this natural disaster, participants completed a post disaster assessment.

Researchers found that individuals who had 4 or more predisaster stressors had a significantly greater chanced of developing PTSD than those with no predisaster stressors.

They also found that having even one single predisaster stressor increased the chance of developing depression, and that every single additional predisaster stressor increased the odds of having a major depressive episode significantly higher.

 

 

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Their conclusion was that having a history of stressors actually gives you stress sensitization, making you more vulnerable to the negative effects of a new trauma (including natural disasters, like our current pandemic) and increasing your risk of mental health issues.

This is particularly important to know in the midst of a pandemic, as it might help explain why naturally you may be feeling more overwhelm in the face of this global crisis than some of your other friends or family members who don���t have a history of stressors or trauma.

While it might make you feel better to know that your history of having major life stressors and traumas makes it completely natural and expected for this pandemic to be hitting you in a deeper way than it is hitting others, you deserve some good news.

 

Is there good news with trauma?Actually, yes.

 

 

 

The largest meta-analysis to date on trauma recovery (looking at data from over 11,000 relevant medical studies) suggests that the best long term recovery after trauma is simply talking about it, no medication required.

Published in JAMA Psychiatry on June 12, 2019, reasearchers looked at direct comparisons between talk therapy (psychotherapy) and drug therapy (pharmacological treatments) in patients with PTSD.

They found that in the long term, talk therapy helped more, being slightly superior to drug therapy both immediately following treatment and in long term follow up.The studies they looked at ranged from 2 months to 6 months long, and this meta-analysis showed there was no advantage to using drugs in recovering from PTSD.This means that drugs are now no longer recommended for first line treatment of trauma, as there is no indication that they are beneficial.

While I am certainly not against the use of medications when they are needed, they should be used sparingly and either short term (as they do not show any long term advantage) or only for patients who don���t find improvement after talk therapy alone.

 

Be encouraged by this.

 

 

 

This means that the vast majority of folks can be helped ��� and helped best ��� by talking about trauma instead of medicating it away.

 

Connect with others.

Reach out for help.

Don���t feel like you are going crazy and don���t feel like you must go it alone.

We all have trauma, we all do. ��But if your history of trauma is making this pandemic harder on you than on others, you can absolutely get through it.

There is long term benefit from connecting to others and speaking about it. ��Treatment is not relegated to a psychiatrist���s office nor does it need to be prescribed away.

In fact, as I blogged about here, PTSD can actually be significantly helped by something as simple and as accessible as repeating a mantra.

It���s true.

Here is that blog post and several other blog posts I���ve written on trauma recovery for you.

Please read any you are drawn to, for instant support:

2 New Treatments For PTSD You Can Use Right Now To Feel Immediately Better How Grounding Releases Trauma From Your Body To Protect Your Long Term Health Trauma Changes The Health Of Your Body, But It���s Reversible Trauma Increases Headache Risk 4-Fold Childhood Trauma Increases Risk Of Self Harm. Here���s Help. OCD May Stem From Birth Trauma Going From Surviving To Thriving After Cancer Your 2022 Healing Mantra — Say It With Me Is Your Job Driving You Crazy? You Are Not Alone. Here���s Help. Resolving PTSD, OCD, Tobacco and Drug Addiction Too Emotional Stress Directly Predicts Heart Attack��� 10 Ways To Prevent It Letting Go Helps You Heal (Here���s How) Is Stress Is Making Your Antidepressant Ineffective? The Healing Power Of Grounded Touch A Super Interesting Difference Between Men and Women When Under Stress Another Difference Between Men and Women��� Found On Autopsy The Healing Process Of Grief

 

Want more advice on how to naturally heal from stress and trauma?

 

The medical literature is clear��� just communicating about trauma is every bit as healing (or even more healing) than all the best medications we have to treat trauma.

So simply joining a class, talking to a therapist, or connecting with others to heal can be just what you need to feel better than you have ever felt.

And here���s the best part���.��those who move through trauma can actually be healthier than those who never went through any trauma at all.

It���s incredible to believe that trauma can actually strengthen your health but it is true.

In my Trauma Resilency & Recovery Class I go over the medical literature that proves that trauma can actually be adaptive and empowering, and I show you all the tools to use trauma to boost your own health in ways you never could have imagined possible.

 

 

 

I developed this class based on my extensive research into the best of what the medical literature has proven to us about how to release trauma once and for all and become healthier for it.

No matter what you have gone through, you absolutely do have the ability to rebound from from it and create a new normal and a new health set point.

Everybody does.

Your body naturally want���s to trend back to full and complete wellness��� mind, body and spirit.

I���ll give you the tools to get there and walk with you through it. ��Class emails come directly into your inbox so that you can start healing, right from the safety and comfort of your own home.

It starts on Valentine’s Day, because this is one gift your can give yourself: to heal your heart. ��Join in by clicking right here today.

And check in with others that you love that you know face significant stressors and might benefit from taking this trauma healing class right alongside you.

 

This is the last week to sign up.

 

 

Moving onwards and upwards���xoxoxo, Laura

 

The post What Is Stress Sensitization? It’s The Reason This Pandemic Is Traumatizing Us All appeared first on Intuition Physician.

A Medical Study Reveals How To Boost Circulation To Your Brain, In 12 Minutes Flat:

 

I’m so excited to share this medical study with you today… very rarely does one simple study make such and immediate and profound impact on my wellness like this one today did.

Don’t just skim through this and discount it — give yourself 12 minutes today to silence your mind in the easiest, most effective way ever. ��And by doing so, you will measurably increase the blood flow to your brain in areas that are critical for cognition and emotional regulation… in fact, this one technique has been previously shown to decrease anxiety and depression while improving sleep.

But now you can add to that impressive list: reduces dementia risk.

Researchers, investigating ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, found that this simple 12 minute mediative practice (Kirtan Kriya — more on this below) was effective in reducing multiple risk factors for Alzheimers disease.

The results were published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease this past May, 2021, (and I love that one of the authors is a physician from the same medical school I went to as well — Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA.)

They found that when study subjects practiced Kirtan Kriya, they had enhanced blood flow to crucial areas of the brain — areas that experience decreased blood flow and the build up of tau proteins in Alzheimers disease.

 

 

 

The cool thing?

This improved blood flow to the brain happened during one single session of Kirtan Kriya.

Once.

Over the eight weeks that researchers followed and imaged the subject’s brain perfusion, the benefits accrued and because even more significant.

So guys, if you literally just try this once today, your brain will get more blood flow, more oxygen, more nutrients, and make a measurable change in your brain’s perfusion right now… even if you never do it again.

But I am pretty sure, that if you are anything like me, better than even the improved blood flow is the freedom from mental garbage that is constantly running through my mind. ��After just one session I could literally feel my energy expand, relax, release.

When the Kirtan Kriya session is finished, I feel completely reset.

What is Kirtan Kriya? ��It’s one of the easiest ways to meditate. ��As I admit in my blog post here, meditation is very hard for me and I often simply focus on taking 3 deep breaths, which is about all my attention span will allow:

 

Reduce Your Overwhelm in 3 Breaths

 

But after reading today’s study, I looked up a simple YouTube video that I could follow along to for the entire 12 minute meditative practice, and it changed the course of my entire day.

All you do is sit with eyes closed, tapping your fingers and repeating a very simple mantra. ��After a few minutes, the mantra is whispered instead of spoken. ��After a few more minutes, the mantra is thought but not spoken aloud at all. ��Then this reverses… the mantra is whispered again, then spoken, all while tapping your fingers. ��That’s it.

Sound simple? ��Good. ��It is. ��Just follow along to the video below, tapping your fingers and repeating the mantra. ��That’s all there is to it.

Let’s go:

 

 

Watch this guided meditation of Kirtan Kriya on YouTube right here.

 

 

 

Feeling better?

 

Me too. ��It only takes one time, today, to start to reap the benefits of Kirtan Kriya to support your brain health.

If after one single session you feel better from head-to-toe, like I did… then turn back to this practice often, and the benefits to your brain will continue to accrue.

 

Want more advice on how to support brain health? ��I’ve got you:

 

One Simple Thing You Can Do To Protect Your Brain Throughout Your LifetimeTo Stay Young, Stay Curious (& Dozens Of Other Ways To Protect Your Brain)The Pentagon Already Knows That EMFs Are Impacting Brain Function��� Here���s WhyYour Brain On Mother EarthWhen You Are Doing Something Meaningful, Your Brain Works BetterGrounding Instantly Helps Your Brain, Mood, and SleepSauna To Protect Your BrainYour Gut And Brain Are Connected (Duh!)A Supplement So Good For The Brain It Can Prevent PsychosisYour 2022 Healing Mantra, Say It With Me

 

Want more advice on how to naturally protect your brain from stress and trauma?I’ve got you there too:

 

Trauma Recovery & Resilience Class

 

 

Trauma acts like a forgein body impaled in the brain. ��It is literally a physical injury. ��You can’t wish it away or ignore it away. ��Time won’t heal it. ��We have to rehabilitate with this forgein body in place, and find new ways to function, new ways to identify with who we are after trauma, and a new equilibrium.

It can feel scary and overwhelming and when time passes and nothing heals, it can feel hopeless.

But it doesn’t have to. ��You just need to be walked through exactly how to rehabilitate that precious brain of yours so that you acclimate to your new normal, and feel whole again.

I’m holding out my hand to you to help lead you through it. ��I am teaching my trauma healing class in just two weeks, and I would love to have you join in. ��It has sold out every single time I have run it, so I highly recommend you reserve your spot right now.������

No matter what you have gone through, you absolutely do have the ability to rebound from from it and create a new normal and a new health set point. ��Your body naturally want���s to trend back to full and complete wellness��� mind, body and spirit. ��I���ll give you the tools to get there.

Find out more information and save your spot in this by-reservation-only course by clicking right here today.

 

 

 

Moving onwards and upwards with you���xoxoxo, Laura

 

 

The post A Medical Study Reveals How To Boost Circulation To Your Brain, In 12 Minutes Flat: appeared first on Intuition Physician.