I can’t believe I still have not seen this documentary, headed by former vice president Al Gore, about the scurge and imminence of global warming.

When I first read this article in my Terrapass newsletter, I thought they were talking about and actual installed solar heat system, not ways to save on your convention heat by using the natural sunlight that can flow through your home in the cold months of the winter time.  The newsletter recommends that to conserve energy, be a little more eco friendly, and of course to save money on that sometimes hefty gas or electric bill, you can make sure that you are opening the windows and letting sun come in on whatever end your house tends to get the early afternoon sun, when it is at its strongest. 

The recommend specifically to open the blinds, shades and curtains on the west and south sides of your home before you leave for work in the morning to take advantage of this free heating supplement from nature so that the heat from the sun can help your furnace work a little less hard.

And, if your house is actually designed for what’s called “passive solar heat” using this principal, your heating savings in the winter can be quite impressive - up to 50% the article claims.  This type of solar heating supplementation only works if the windows in your house are air tight though, if you have a lot of drafts coming in, you may defeat the purpose and let more cold air in. 

The CDC, the Center for Disease Control, has recently reported that there has been an alarming increase in unintentional fatal drug overdoses in the past 5-7 years.  The numbers have almost doubled (scary I know) recently, and have actually become the leading cause of accidental death in the US, behind fatal falls and automobile accidents.  Why the sudden dramatic increase in fatal drug overdoses?

The problem has become a focus after two high profile drug overdoses (or at least suspected), in celebrity Anna Nicole Smith and her son before her Daniel, Smith.  The suspected causes of the increase have been the popularity of painkillers that have a nasty reputation for being addictive and very hard on the system when taken in large amounts, oxycontin and vicodin and other related prescritpion pain killers.  See why taking natural pain relievers and herbal pain killers may be much better for your health?

The toxicology reports are  not always easily found, so this is just a hypothesis health professionals have come up with that coincides with the explanation of the increase in deaths from drugs.  Also, mixing of prescription drugs such as sedatives and other narcotics may be to blame. 

The novice may not even know that they cannot mix certain drugs, and unintentionally set themselves up with a cocktail that can lead to heart problems and other respiratory emergencies. 

This is why it may be even more important for herbologists to come up with a good herbal pain killer.  It is scary that so many people are becoming addicted to prescription pain relievers that act very much like the deadly heroin in the system. 

Light therapy is being used as an effective alternative treatment for a variety of ailments with encouraging results. What makes light therapy so favorable is other modes of treatment involve surgery or drugs . With the latter two treatment methods, risks to the patient are higher.

For medical uses, doctors and researchers are using varying wavelengths of light. The types of light being used in these innovative therapies are; near infrared light, red light, blue light and ultraviolet light. Near infrared light with it’s long wavelengths can penetrate deeply
into human tissue.

Presently, near infrared light is being used at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to treat severe mucositis, oral sores that occur as a side effect of chemotherapy. Laboratory testing is being done for further applications such as reversing blindness and cutting the severity of a heart attack.  Red light helps wounds heal more quickly and has an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect, acting as a natural skin care treatment.

Red light has been used to remove precancerous skin cells without scarring. When red light is used in combination with blue light, it has been effective in the treatment of severe acne. Also, when red light is used together with near infrared light, it induces collagen formation which
helps smooth out wrinkles in the skin.  Blue light has been effective in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder.

A dose of blue light increases alertness and decreases insomnia. Exposure to blue light in the evening helps Alzheimer’s patients to sleep through the night.  Ultraviolet light keeps bacteria and viruses from reproducing. It is used in water treatment plants. Studies are being done for it’s potential to sterilize air in office and retail buildings. 

Light effects human tissue at the cellular level and can help the body and skin repair itself. Research is uncovering a host of ways in which light therapy can help us.

You think you might be immune to the customary weather related cycle of depression and general “blue” feelings, but almost everyone falls victim to the winter blues, especially if you live in an area like I do, where there is currently a deep freeze going on which makes it barely possible to go outside for even a few minutes without fearing you may get frost bite. 

The fact that we often times do not get outdoors and do not get the fresh air that we have easier access to in the summer months, paired with the fact that we do not get as much sunlight, and experience a lack of those feel good chemicals our body syntesizes from sun rays, this all compiles in to what is called SAD. 

SAD is Seasonal Affective Disorder, and more people suffer from it during the winter months than you may think.  I find that after a while of being cooped up indoors, I do start to almost get restless and have feelings of angst and anxiety that weren’t there before.  There are herbal remedies for depression and anxiety that can be taken, as well as some things we can do to minimize the effects of SAD.  To be continued!