Category: Natural Health & Wellness
Showing 1–36 of 46 results
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After Effects of War with Christal Presley
Christal Presley, an English teacher in Virginia who experienced “secondary trauma” in response to the extreme behavior of her father, a Vietnam-era veteran with PTSD, tells how the family began a journey of recovery.
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Aging Gracefully
The human survival instinct prods us to outlast afflictions and, if circumstances permit, to reach old age. Nothing, of course, could be more quintessentially natural than aging. Physician Andrew Weil gives his views on healthy longevity in which older people come to accept the challenges and discover the rewards of aging, plus a look at Okinawa home to the highest percentage on earth of people who live to be 100.
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Aging in Community
70 million Baby Boomers are now entering their retirement years. For the first time in history, there will be more older adults than children. On this special project from Humankind public radio, you’ll hear stories of transition and dignity — and meet people who are showing the way.
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Basic Concepts of Nutrition and Excercise for Cancer Survivors
Donald Abrams, MD
Chief of Hematology/Oncology
San Francisco General Hospital -
Bereavement
Guitelle Sandman, a mother who in a matter of months lost two of her four children, tells of the painful time of mourning and of ways by which one can adjust to a new life. Her courage is deeply inspiring to those who’ve suffered a loss.
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Bob Massie’s Survival Story
The remarkable survival story of Bob Massie, an Episcopal minister who somehow walked through one life-threatening illness after another, and whose many challenges deepened his appreciation for life—and for the suffering of others.
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Cancer Prevention and Survival
A series of free interviews and free print materials to give guidance—spiritual, emotional, and physical— to those diagnosed with cancer.
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Chaplains
Facing a personal crisis, hospital patients and their loved ones often receive needed emotional support from a quiet army of chaplains, who are skilled at empathetic listening to people gripped by difficult and confusing emotions.
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Compassionate Friends
Aiming to “transform the pain of grief into the elixir of hope,” a group called The Compassionate Friends, with more than 600 U.S. chapters, brings together parents who’ve suffered the loss of a child, to help them sort through complicated emotions among kindred spirits.
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Confidence vs. Cancer
Physician Don Ernesto Contreras of Del Mar, Mexico details the philosophy behind his “body, mind and spirit” approach to cancer treatment, in use for some 30 years.
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Connections that Heal
At the typical nursing station of today’s hospitals, it can sometimes seem like high-tech medical machinery supersedes a personal connection between the patient and nurse or other health care professional. But for many caregivers, that one-to-one relationship is the essence of their service. It also can help to sustain and revitalize nurses, who often are called to their work through a powerful drive to serve people.
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Home Cooking
We explore the significant benefits of home-cooked meals, including improved family dynamics, greater likelihood of healthy ingredients, lower costs, reduced carbon footprint and taking time together to appreciate the food we receive.
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Diet and Health
In this Humankind documentary, we hear from a growing movement of physicians and others who — concerned by the rising rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease — are placing greater emphasis on advising patients about more healthful eating. But changing our diets is notoriously difficult, especially in a culture that heavily promotes unhealthy foods.
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Encore Careers
Although many people crave the break from daily work they receive upon retirement, in some cases the experience of an “endless vacation” eventually causes individuals to feel purposeless. They often feel lonely and depressed, drifting with too much spare time in which to think about their physical ailments. With the erosion of savings caused by the economic downturn starting in 2008, many seniors seeking extra income will now be moving back into the workforce.
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End of Life Dialogues
A mediator relates how Colorado residents on both sides of the ethical debate about end of life questions were able to find common ground on the need to improve compassionate care for patients who are gravely ill.
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Escape Fire with Matt Heineman
We hear excerpts from Escape Fire a powerful new documentary that recently aired on CNN, along with comments by its young director, Matthew Heineman, about the over-scheduled work day of doctors and how too many pharmaceuticals don’t make us better.
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Family Health Care
In contrast to the traditional HMO setting, a non-profit clinic in Kansas tries to humanize medicine by taking time to listen and allows low-income patients to barter for health care.
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The Final Chapter
We hear from chaplains, a compassionate doctor and a dying patient on how spiritual care is sensitively provided to people in the closing days of their lives.
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Health Care With Kindness
Patients often complain about rushed doctor visits and, of course, the cost of medical services. But a number of studies in recent years highlight a different concern: whether as a patient you actually experience kindness when receiving health care. And being treated with basic courtesy and compassion – especially while undergoing medical distress – was rated in one survey as the most important factor when a patient chooses a provider. In this Humankind documentary, we examine that challenge, from the perspective of both health care professionals – often serving in a stressful environment – and patients who come for help.
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Holistic Nurses
We hear from a variety of nurses about the stresses they face in today’s fast-paced medical setting—and how they struggle to find the time needed to treat the whole person.
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Human Growth in Old Age
Lois Harris, a Massachusetts-based consultant on the aging process, gives a life-affirming description of the cycles of growth and renewal.
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Humble Recovery
How recovering alcoholics strive to develop the personal trait of humility as a safeguard against egotistical thinking that could lead them back into drinking.
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Humor and Health
Part A: Hear professional comedians who are cancer survivors and learn the health benefits of humor and laughter.
Part B: Playwrights who’ve used the stage for humor and poignant insight about their journeys through illness. -
JoBeth Walt
A woman who was severely burned in an accident reveals her personal journey of healing and self-acceptance and describes what she’s learned from working with young people who are also coping with burns.
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Journey for Recovery
Part A: Cancer patients confront their fears, real and imagined; and a scientific look at the mind/body connection.
Part B: How relaxation exercises and healing imagery can diminish cancer pain; and the health benefits of keeping a personal diary. -
Laughter is Good Medicine
Norman Cousins tells how “laughter therapy,” a warm bond with his physician, and Vitamin C cured a crippling spinal disease against 500-to-1 odds.
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Listeners (Pts 1&2)
There’s a kind of mystery in sitting calmly, patiently, attentively and tuning into someone else’s personal story – their experience and life journey. In this special program, we hear the reflective insights of people who listen for a living: physicians, counselors and clergy.
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Bernard Lown: The Lost Art of Healing
An elderly physician and Nobel Peace Prize-winner, Bernard Lown, pleads for a revolution in health care that would place greater emphasis on personal interaction between doctor and patient.
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Managing Pain
Near Portland, ME, people afflicted with chronic pain from medical conditions support each other in a group where attendees who are discouraged learn to take an active role in their life and to see themselves not as a patient but as a complete person.
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Medicine’s River of Meaning with Rachel Remen
Physician, philosopher and best-selling author Rachel Remen describes her remarkable course, “The Healer’s Art,” taught at medical schools throughout the United States.
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Resilient Nurses
A no-holds-barred look at the stressful conditions in which many nurses work: the long hours, the emotional toll, the rapid pace, and the way that technology and institutional practices can make it hard to form a caring bond with patients.
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The Placebo Effect
We explore the mysterious ability of placebos to promote measurable physical healing, even when no medicine is present, and what this tells us about the power of belief and the body’s capacity self-curative potential.
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The Power of Belief
Part A: Whether or not people of faith, cancer patients go deeply into themselves to ponder their lives.
Part B: A rabbi whose daughter died of cancer teaches martial arts to young patients, helping them find inner strength. -
Practicing Prevention
Physician Ralph Snyderman, who served as long-time dean of the Duke University medical school, believes that personal health (like our environment) should be regarded as “sustainable”, which means restructuring the roles of both doctor and patient.