Day: November 23, 2022

• People who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, are happier, and better able to reach their goals

• Gratitude is associated with improved health, producing a number of measurable effects on various biological systems

• One way to harness the positive power of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal, where you actively write down what you’re grateful for each day

This article previously ran a few years ago but there are so many good reminders about the benefits of gratitude, I decided to share it with you again this year. I am grateful beyond words for your support and for partnering with me to help people all over the world take control of their health.

Besides sharing time with family and friends over food, the primary ingredient of the American Thanksgiving holiday is gratitude. While it’s certainly good to have an annual holiday to remind us to express gratitude, there’s much to be said for the benefits of cultivating the spirit of thankfulness year-round.

People who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, have more positive emotions, and are better able to reach their goals. Scientists have even noted that gratitude is associated with improved health. As noted by Harvard Health Publishing,1 expressing thanks may be one of the simplest ways to feel better:

“The word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness (depending on the context). In some ways gratitude encompasses all of these meanings. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible.

With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals — whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.

… People feel and express gratitude in multiple ways. They can apply it to the past (retrieving positive memories and being thankful for elements of childhood or past blessings), the present (not taking good fortune for granted as it comes), and the future (maintaining a hopeful and optimistic attitude).

Regardless of the inherent or current level of someone’s gratitude, it’s a quality that individuals can successfully cultivate further.”

P. Murali Doraiswamy, director of the neurocognitive disorders program at Duke University School of Medicine, once stated: “If [thankfulness] were a drug, it would be the world’s best-selling product with a health maintenance indication for every major organ system.”2

One way to harness the positive power of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal or list, where you actively write down exactly what you’re grateful for each day. In one study,3 4 people who kept a gratitude journal reported exercising more and had fewer visits to the doctor compared to those who focused on sources of aggravation.

As noted in an ABC News article,5 studies have shown that gratitude can produce a number of measurable effects on a number of systems in your body, including:

• Mood neurotransmitters (serotonin and norepinephrine)

• Inflammatory and immune systems (cytokines)

• Reproductive hormones (testosterone)

• Stress hormones (cortisol)

• Social bonding hormones (oxytocin)

• Blood pressure and cardiac and EEG rhythms

• Cognitive and pleasure related neurotransmitters (dopamine)

• Blood sugar

Cultivating a sense of gratitude will help you refocus your attention toward what’s good and right in your life, rather than dwelling on the negatives and all the things you may feel are lacking. And, like a muscle, this mental state can be strengthened with practice. Besides keeping a daily gratitude journal, other ways to cultivate a sense of gratitude include:

• Write thank-you notes — Whether in response to a gift or kind act, or simply as a show of gratitude for someone being in your life, getting into the habit of writing thank-you letters can help you express gratitude in addition to simply feeling it inside.

• Count your blessings — Once a week, reflect on events for which you are grateful, and write them down. As you do, feel the sensations of happiness and thankfulness you felt at the time it happened, going over it again in your mind.

• Pray — Expressing thanks during your prayers is another way to cultivate gratitude.

• Mindfulness meditation — Practicing “mindfulness” means that you’re actively paying attention to the moment you’re in right now. A mantra is sometimes used to help maintain focus, but you can also focus on something that you’re grateful for, such as a pleasant smell, a cool breeze or a lovely memory.

The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California,6 in collaboration with Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis, launched a project called Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude. This multiyear project aims to:

• Expand the scientific database of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of human health, personal and relational well-being, and developmental science;

• Raise awareness and engage the public in a larger cultural conversation about the meaning and significance of gratitude; and

• Promote evidence-based practices of gratitude in educational, medical, and organizational settings.

The Greater Good Science Center has distributed more than $3.5 million in funding to support those engaging in research “that took the study of gratitude in new and innovative directions.”7

The organization has a number of resources you can peruse at your leisure, including “The Science of Happiness” blog and newsletter8 and a Digital Gratitude Journal,9 where you can record and share the things you’re grateful for. Scientists are also permitted to use the data to explore “causes, effects, and meaning of gratitude.”

For example, previous research has shown that employees whose managers say “thank you” feel greater motivation at work, and work harder than peers who do not hear those “magic words.”

As noted in a previous Thanksgiving blog post in Mark’s Daily Apple:10 “[R]esearch11 has shown that being on the receiving end of a person’s gratitude can boost subjects’ sense of self-worth and/or self-efficacy. It also appears to encourage participants to further help the person who offered the gratitude but also another, unrelated person in an unconscious ‘pay it forward’ kind of connection.”

Starting each day by thinking of all the things you have to be thankful for is one way to put your mind on the right track. Also, remember that your future depends largely on the thoughts you think today. So each moment of every day is an opportunity to turn your thinking around, thereby helping or hindering your ability to think and feel more positively in the very next moment.

Most experts agree there are no shortcuts to happiness. Even generally happy people do not experience joy 24 hours a day. But a happy person can have a bad day and still find pleasure in the small things in life.

Be thankful for what you have. When life gives you 100 reasons to cry, remember the 1,000 reasons you have to smile. Face your past without regret; prepare for the future without fear; focus on what’s good right now, in the present moment, and practice gratitude.

Remember to say “thank you” — to yourself, the Universe and others. It’s wonderful to see a person smile, and even more wonderful knowing that you are the reason behind it! And with that, I wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

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Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked.

The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. The subscription fee being requested is for access to the articles and information posted on this site, and is not being paid for any individual medical advice.

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• Gratitude involves affirming the good in your life and recognizing its sources. It is the understanding that life owes you nothing and that the good things in your life are gifts that cannot be taken for granted

• Gratitude is uniquely important to psychological well-being. In teenagers, gratitude has been found to correlate with positive emotions, life satisfaction, social support and prosocial behavior

• Gratitude lowers stress, improves depression and improves emotional resiliency; researchers have suggested gratitude practice can be used as a psychotherapeutic intervention

• One particularly potent strategy is to write a letter of gratitude to someone whom you’ve not properly thanked for their kindness, and to hand deliver the letter to them. This has been shown to result in an immediate and significant increase in happiness that can last for up to a month

• A dozen different strategies are reviewed, all of which can help you build and strengthen your sense of gratitude

Focusing on gratitude has become a growing trend in recent years,1 and for good reason. There’s a lot of stress, illness and unhappiness in the world, and gratitude is an effective remedy for all of these — and it’s free. For example, research shows that gratitude:2 3 4 5

• Alters your brain in a number of beneficial ways — Examples include triggering release of mood-regulating neurotransmitters6 such as dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine and oxytocin; inhibiting the stress hormone cortisol; and stimulating your hypothalamus (a brain area involved in the regulation of stress) and your ventral tegmental area (part of your brain’s reward circuitry that produces pleasurable feelings)7

• Increases happiness and life satisfaction8 9

• Lowers stress and emotional distress

• Improves emotional resiliency10

• Reduces symptoms of depression11 12

• Reduces pain

• Lowers inflammation by inhibiting inflammatory cytokines

• Lowers blood sugar

• Improves immune function13

• Lowers blood pressure

• Improves heart health,14 reducing the likelihood of sudden death in patients with congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease

• Lowers risk for heart disease15 16

• Improves general health by encouraging self-care17 18

• Improves sleep19

• Improves interpersonal relationships20

• Boosts productivity21

• Reduces materialism22 and increases generosity,23 both of which can increase happiness and life satisfaction

As explained by Harvard Medical School:24

“Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives.

In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals — whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.”

According to one study,25 gratitude is “uniquely important to psychological well-being.” In teenagers, gratitude has been found to correlate with “positive affect, global and domain specific life satisfaction, optimism, social support and prosocial behavior.”26 It’s even been suggested that gratitude practice and cultivation can be used as a psychotherapeutic intervention with positive effect.27

As psychologist Laurie Santos, who teaches the science of happiness at Yale, told NPR,28 “It’s one of the practices that really wins out from the field of positive psychology, because it takes very little time, and the benefits are so powerful.”

As noted by Harvard,29 there are many ways to feel and express gratitude, and all are equally valid. You can think back to positive memories, for example, applying gratitude for past blessings.

Feeling and expressing gratitude in the present helps remind you to not take good fortune for granted. Applied to the future, it becomes an expression of hope and optimism that everything will work out for the best, even if you cannot see the road ahead.

For best results, the key is to find a method that feels meaningful to you. For some, writing a gratitude list first thing in the morning might do the trick. For others, quietly contemplating what you’re grateful for — past, present or future — at the end of each day works better.

One particularly potent strategy is to write a letter of gratitude to someone whom you’ve not properly thanked for their kindness, and to hand deliver the letter to them. In one study,30 31 doing this resulted in an immediate and significant increase in happiness score that lasted for an entire month.

Depending on circumstances, gratitude can sometimes be a struggle. Researchers say the best way to overcome this hurdle (which can trigger even more pessimism or guilt) is to find one tiny little thing to be grateful for, and to focus on that one thing.

Maybe you’ve lost your job and your car was repossessed but — thankfully — there’s a bus stop within easy walking distance. Over time, you’ll find it becomes easier to identify additional things to be thankful for.32

Another way to flex your gratitude muscle when life events leave you uninspired is to identify and express gratitude for seemingly “useless” or insignificant things. It could be a certain smell in the air, the color of a flower, your child’s freckles or the curvature of a stone. Over time, you’ll find that doing this will help hone your ability to identify “good” things in your life.

According to Robert Emmons, one of the leading scientific experts on gratitude,33 materialism and entitlement are two common stumbling blocks to gratitude, so if you cannot find anything to be thankful for, consider whether you might have fallen into one of these traps. As explained in a newsletter by Greater Good Science Center:34

“Seen through the lens of buying and selling, relationships as well as things are viewed as disposable, and gratitude cannot survive this … Research has proven that gratitude is essential for happiness, but modern times have regressed gratitude into a mere feeling instead of retaining its historic value, a virtue that leads to action …

[G]ratitude is an action of returning a favor and is not just a sentiment. By the same token, ingratitude is the failure to both acknowledge receiving a favor and refusing to return or repay the favor … If we fail to choose [gratitude], by default we choose ingratitude …

Provision, whether supernatural or natural, becomes so commonplace that it is easily accepted for granted. We believe the universe owes us a living. We do not want to be beholden. Losing sight of protection, favors, benefits and blessings renders a person spiritually and morally bankrupt …

People who are ungrateful tend to be characterized by an excessive sense of self-importance, arrogance, vanity and an unquenchable need for admiration and approval.

Narcissists reject the ties that bind people into relationships of reciprocity. They expect special favors and feel no need to pay back or pay forward … Without empathy, they cannot appreciate an altruistic gift because they cannot identify with the mental state of the gift-giver.”

If entitlement is the hallmark of narcissism, then humility is the antidote and the answer when you struggle with gratitude. As noted by Emmons, “The humble person says that life is a gift to be grateful for, not a right to be claimed. Humility ushers in a grateful response to life.”35

So, gratitude isn’t a response to receiving “your due,” but rather the recognition that life owes you nothing, yet provided you with everything you have anyway — a place to live, family, friends, work, your eyesight, your breath, indeed your very life. When you start seeing everything as a gift, opposed to things you’ve deserved (for better or worse), your sense of gratitude will begin to swell.

While keeping a daily gratitude journal is highly recommended, there are many other ways to practice gratitude. I’ve compiled suggestions from various experts below. The key is to stay consistent. Find a way to incorporate your chosen method into each week, and stick with it.

• Write thank-you notes36 — When thanking someone, be specific and acknowledge the effort and/or cost involved.

• Say grace at each meal — Adopting the ritual of saying grace at each meal is a great way to flex your gratitude muscle on a daily basis37 and will also foster a deeper connection to your food.

  While this can be a perfect opportunity to honor a spiritual connection with the divine, you don’t have to turn it into a religious speech if you don’t want to. You could simply say, “I am grateful for this food and appreciate all the time and hard work that went into its production, transportation and preparation.”

• Change your perception — Disappointment can be a major source of stress, which is known to have far-reaching effects on your health and longevity. In fact, centenarians overwhelmingly cite stress as the most important thing to avoid if you want to live a long and healthy life. Since stress is virtually unavoidable, the key is to develop and strengthen your ability to manage your stress so that it doesn’t wear you down over time.

  Rather than dwelling on negative events, most centenarians figured out how to let things go, and you can do that too. It takes practice, though. It’s a skill that must be honed daily, or however often you’re triggered.

  A foundational principle to let go of negativity is the realization that the way you feel has little to do with the event itself, and everything to do with your perception of it. Wisdom of the ancients dictates that events are neither good nor bad in and of themselves. It is your belief about the event that upsets you, not the fact that it happened.

  As noted by Ryan Holiday, author of “The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance and the Art of Living,”38 “The Stoics are saying, ‘This happened to me,’ is not the same as, ‘This happened to me and that’s bad.’ They’re saying if you stop at the first part, you will be much more resilient and much more able to make some good out of anything that happens.” And, once you can see the good, you’re more apt to feel gratitude.

• Be mindful of your nonverbal actions — Smiling and hugging are both ways of expressing gratitude, encouragement, excitement, empathy and support. These physical actions also help strengthen your inner experience of positive emotions of all kinds.

• Give praise — Research39 shows using “other-praising” phrases are far more effective than “self-beneficial” phrases. For example, praising a partner saying, “thank you for going out of your way to do this,” is more powerful than a compliment framed in terms of how you benefited, such as “it makes me happy when you do that.”

  The former resulted in the partner feeling happier and more loving toward the person giving the praise. Also, be mindful of your delivery — say it like you mean it. Establishing eye contact is another tactic that helps you show your sincerity.

• Prayer and/or mindfulness meditation — Expressing thanks during prayer or meditation is another way to cultivate gratitude. Practicing “mindfulness” means that you’re actively paying attention to the moment you’re in right now. A mantra is sometimes used to help maintain focus, but you can also focus on something that you’re grateful for, such as a pleasant smell, a cool breeze or a lovely memory.

• Create a nightly gratitude ritual — One suggestion is to create a gratitude jar,40 into which the entire family can add notes of gratitude on a daily basis. Any jar or container will do. Simply write a quick note on a small slip of paper and put it into the jar. Some make an annual (or biannual or even monthly) event out of going through the whole jar, reading each slip out loud.

• Spend money on activities instead of things — According to research,41 spending money on experiences not only generates more gratitude than material consumption, it also motivates greater generosity.

  As noted by co-author Amit Kumar, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Chicago, “People feel fortunate, and because it’s a diffuse, untargeted type of gratitude, they’re motivated to give back to people in general.”42

• Embrace the idea of having “enough” — According to many who have embraced a more minimalist lifestyle, the key to happiness is learning to appreciate and be grateful for having “enough.”

  Financial hardship and work stress are two significant contributors to depression and anxiety. The answer is to buy less and appreciate more. Instead of trying to keep up with the Joneses, practice being grateful for the things you already have, and release yourself from the iron grip of advertising, which tells you there’s lack in your life.

  Many who have adopted the minimalist lifestyle claim they’ve been able to reduce the amount of time they have to work to pay their bills, freeing up time for volunteer work, creative pursuits and taking care of their personal health, thereby dramatically raising their happiness and life satisfaction. The key here is deciding what “enough” is. Consumption itself is not the problem; unchecked and unnecessary shopping is.

  Many times, accumulation of material goods is a symptom that you may be trying to fill a void in your life, yet that void can never be filled by material things. More often than not, the void is silently asking for more love, personal connection or experiences that bring purpose and passionate engagement. So, make an effort to identify your real, authentic emotional and spiritual needs, and then focus on fulfilling them in ways that do not involve shopping.

• Tapping — The Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a helpful tool for a number of emotional challenges, including lack of gratitude. EFT is a form of psychological acupressure based on the energy meridians used in acupuncture that can quickly restore inner balance and healing, and helps rid your mind of negative thoughts and emotions. In the video below, EFT practitioner Julie Schiffman demonstrates how to tap for gratitude.

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Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked.

The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. The subscription fee being requested is for access to the articles and information posted on this site, and is not being paid for any individual medical advice.

If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

• A number of ancient wellness practices are now being embraced and promoted, many of which are rooted in the European wellness tradition

• Spain has a long history of taking a siesta during the hottest time of the afternoon. The research on napping is mixed, however, with some studies showing benefits while others have come to the opposite conclusion

• Mud treatments and mud wraps, which have been used therapeutically for 25 centuries, were popularized by the Italians during the Roman Empire. Mud therapy is often referred to as fangotherapy, after the Italian word “fango,” which means “mud”

• Contrast therapy — a popular tradition in Finland — typically involves the use of sauna followed by cold-water immersion, either in a lake, pool, shower or bath. In the winter, immersing yourself in snow is another option

• Other trending wellness practices include the Nordic diet, forest bathing and uitwaaien, a Dutch word referring to spending time outdoors in wild and windy weather

As holistic health gains hold, a number of ancient wellness practices are being embraced and promoted. According to a March 2, 2020, article1 in The Guardian, many of these practices are rooted in the European wellness culture. Following is a sampling of ancient holistic health traditions making a comeback. How many of them have you tried?

Spain has a long history of taking a siesta during the hottest time of the afternoon. To this day, many Spaniards will take a break from work in the afternoon and work later into the evening to compensate. The Guardian quotes Paul Joseph, founder of Health and Fitness Travel:2

“Even just slowing down for a short period of time allows you to disconnect from the world and subsequently boost energy, focus and creativity.”

The research on napping is mixed, however, with some studies showing benefits such as lowering the prevalence of heart disease (particularly among working men),3 improving learning,4 boosting emotional stability and lowering blood pressure, while others show it may actually increase the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and cognitive decline, especially in older adults.5

While it’s unlikely that naps are directly causing these health problems, the association exists nonetheless, and more research is needed to determine who benefits from naps, who doesn’t and why.

Mud treatments and mud wraps, which have been used therapeutically for 25 centuries,6 were popularized by the Italians during the Roman Empire. Mud therapy is often referred to as fangotherapy, after the Italian word “fango,” which means “mud.”

Mud is generally advertised as having cleansing and relaxing, antistress effects, but science suggests its health benefits may be far-reaching. As reported in the Spanish journal Anales de Medicina Interna:7

“Mud has a place as a non-pharmacological tool in certain clinical settings, such as degenerative articular processes, skin disorders, and others … Fangotherapy in arthritis patients seems to cause variations in amino acid involved in cartilage homeostasis, and also produce reduction in pain ratings in gonarthrosis.

Mud modifies nitric oxide, myeloperoxidase and glutathione peroxidase serum levels in arthritic patients and beta-endorphin and stress hormones in patients affected by osteoarthritis by reducing inflammation, pain and therefore diminishes the cause of stress.

[It] has been confirmed that the thermal stress associated with Fangotherapy activates the pituitary gland … Furthermore, steroids and antimicrobial activity of certain therapeutic mud has been suggested.”

Contrast therapy typically involves the use of sauna followed by cold-water immersion, either in a lake, pool, shower or bath. In the winter, immersing yourself in snow is another option. Sauna bathing has a long history in Finland.

To this day, most homes in Finland have a built-in sauna. Sauna bathing has been shown to strengthen heart health and offer significant protection against cardiovascular diseases,8 and adding the contrast of a cold dip afterward can further magnify those effects.

Sauna bathing is one of my favorite therapies as it generates heat shock proteins that repair protein misfolding, which is a major part of aging and disease. I believe this is why all-cause mortality is so radically decreased in Finns who sauna more than five times a week.

Sweating in a sauna will also help eliminate toxins, improve blood circulation, kill disease-causing microbes and improve your mitochondrial function. Research has even shown that regular sauna use correlates with a reduced risk of death from any cause, and may help stave off Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

For example, researchers in Finland found that men who used a sauna four to seven times a week for an average of 15 minutes had a 66% lower risk of developing dementia, and 65% lower risk of Alzheimer’s, compared to men who used the sauna just once a week.910

Recent research11 has also demonstrated that sauna bathing helps modulate your autonomic nervous system, which governs your stress responses.12 This helps explain why most people feel “nice and mellow” afterward.

There is a compelling body of evidence showing exposure to harsh conditions can be highly beneficial and that extreme temperature variations help optimize many biological functions. Like exposure to heat, exposure to cold boosts mitochondrial function and numbers. Cold thermogenesis has also been shown to:131415

• Strengthen joint tissue and improve

• Support weight loss efforts by increasing metabolism

• Increase blood circulation

• Reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety by at least 50%16

• Speed rate of recovery following joint or muscle injury17

• Provide temporary relief lasting about 90 minutes from pain associated with arthritis18

• Reduce pain and swelling following injury

• Reduce your risk of developing cognitive decline and dementia by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress19

• Reduce inflammation

• Improve symptoms of eczema20

• Enhance benefits of physical therapy

• Reduce pain associated with migraines when applied to the back of the neck for about 30 minutes21

• Improve muscle function and strength

• Boost mental focus and attention by increasing production of norepinephrine in your brain.

• Norepinephrine can be increased twofold just by getting into 40-degree F. water for 20 seconds, or 57-degree water for a few minutes

Forest bathing is the English translation of the Japanese term “shinrin-yoku.” As the term suggests, it refers to the restorative and “cleansing” effects of spending time in forests and other nature spaces. In Japan, it’s a revered and long-standing tradition known to promote health and well-being.

The benefits of forest bathing go beyond the obvious. As explained in the film, “Call of the Forest,” trees have medicinal properties.22 For example, limonene, produced by trees, is an anticancer compound used in chemotherapy.

Linolenic acids aid brain functioning and pinenes have antibiotic properties. Inhaling these and other compounds emitted by trees can provide a mildly narcotic effect while boosting immune function and relaxing your body. The soil of the forest also has healing powers, including soil bacteria shown to improve mood, so don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.

The Dutch word “uitwaaien” is a similar term, but refers more specifically to spending time outdoors in “wild, windy weather.” According to The Guardian:23

“By replacing ‘bad air’ with ‘good air,’ it is believed to leave you feeling clear-headed and refreshed. ‘It feels exhilarating — wind is distracting, so it’s sort of meditative, in the sense you cannot think about anything else,’ says [Global Wellness Institute research director, Beth] McGroarty.”

Without doubt, spending more time in nature is one of the simplest ways to improve your general well-being and emotional health.

A massive study24 involving data from more than 140 trials and 290 million people revealed exposure to greenspace — defined as open, undeveloped land with natural vegetation — led to significant reductions in diastolic blood pressure, salivary cortisol (a physiological marker of stress) and heart rate, along with significant decreases in Type 2 diabetes and mortality from all causes and those specifically related to the heart.

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Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked.

The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. The subscription fee being requested is for access to the articles and information posted on this site, and is not being paid for any individual medical advice.

If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.