Mindfulness practices can improve your health in so many arenas, but most of all it can aid in improving your sleep. Mindfulness meditation can be defined as focusing awareness on each moment, including the environment, as wells physical and emotional sensations. In clinical studies, practicing mindfulness and/or mindfulness meditation before bed has led to benefits including: reduced insomnia, deeper sleep, fewer episodes of wakefulness during the night, improved mood and resilience, greater daytime energy and less anxiety. Give this a try: Be in a quiet place where you can relax. Sit, or lie down in your bed. Pay attention to the environment, listening to the sounds, smelling what is around you and feeling the temperature of the room. Focus inward. Take several deep breaths, paying attention to how your body feels as you breathe. Let your eyes close as you become more relaxed. Scan your body and assess how you feel. Focus your awareness on the parts of your body that are tense or in pain. Breathe deeply and acknowledge the feeling, without judging it. Imagine your body becoming heavier, more anchored to the earth. Visualize a location that makes you particularly happy. This could be a natural setting, a vacation spot you remember, as long as it leaves you with a calm, peaceful feeling. Let your thoughts flow. If you have anxious or worried thoughts, let each occurrence be an opportunity to observe the thought and let it go. Rather than fighting the thoughts, imagine standing still and letting the thoughts flow around you. Bring your attention back to your breath. You can use a timer if you need, or just fall off into sleep. Do keep with this practice as it might take some practice, but you will reap benefits however you do or how long you choose to do this meditation.

Dr. Bump's most recent musings discussed lifestyle choices that are impacting our ability to get a restful sleep. While you implement some of the changes he suggests, we recommend I-Theanine per supplement support. Click the image above to purchase from our online store.

We like this recipe from Sylvia Fountaine posted on Feasting at Home . We have put it with fish, meat, grilled veggies, and so many other things. Cilantro Chimichurri Sauce Ingredients 1/4 cup red onion 2 garlic cloves 1 tablespoon fresh chilis, diced (jalapeño, red chilies, or feel free to omit for a milder version) 1 cup Cilantro, tiny stems OK 1 cup Parsley, thin stems OK (optional, if not using, add another cup of Cilantro) 1 tablespoon fresh oregano ( or 1 teaspoon dried) 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (1–2 limes) or use red wine vinegar (or use half lime and half vinegar) 3/4 cup olive oil, add more to the desired consistency 1 tsp kosher salt 1 teaspoon pepper ½ tsp smoked paprika– (optional –only if you like smokey flavor) ½ teaspoon chili flakes, more or to taste Finely mince everything and place it in a medium bowl along with wet and dry ingredients. Taste, adjust salt, lime and heat ( add more chilies or chili flakes) to your liking. Or, alternatively, use a food processor: Place all ingredients through oregano in processor, and pulse a few times until finely chopped. Add olive oil, lime juice, smoked paprika (optional), salt and pepper. Pulse a few more times, until well combined (but not smooth). Taste, adjust salt, lime and heat ( add more chilies or chili flakes) to your liking. If the mixture seems thick add a little more oil to loosen it up. This will keep up to 4 days in the fridge, or freeze.

“Some people can’t sleep because they have insomnia. I can’t sleep because I have internet.” — Anonymous

Recipes we are enjoying that are likely friendly on our detoxification or dysbiosis programs.

Functional Medicine Health Coach Dawn Bump gives tips and tricks!

Everywhere I go these days, people ask: “Dr. Bump, should I get the Covid-19 vaccine? Is it safe?” The short answer is, I would exercise patience and caution. Continue to support your health in ways that you’ve learned over the years with us. The long answer is: While not an anti-vaxxer, I am prudent and reticent. As with any topic, per healthcare, beliefs are formed based on perceived “truths”. The questions asked produce the answers sought, unless we keep an open and objective mindset. I am curiously excited about the prospects of this vaccine and the technology behind it. I am for intelligent choices based on sound evidence provided by the best facts we can compile. When studying therapies related to healthcare, whether they are techniques, nutrients, vitamins, herbs or pharmaceutical drugs, I want to know there is properly done research to support their use by my patients. So it is with a healthy amount of investigative curiosity that I reviewed the landmark study being used to validate the use of the Pfizer vaccine. First, the marvels of modern genomic technologies (mRNA) used to create this vaccine are mind boggling. Suffice it to say that conceptually, the use of mRNA to prime our immune cells is brilliant. Basically, this vaccine will encourage your own muscle cells to make the protein (S for spike) that the corona virus uses to attach to your cells. It’s that spiky thing you see in pictures of the virus. mRNA has been used in cancer therapy for a number of years now, but it has not been used for a vaccine. From a broad overview perspective; it seems safe and hopefully effective, and time will tell. Secondly, by nature I am an optimist, and I look with a bit of skepticism towards big pharma, the medical industrial complex and the federal regulatory agencies created to protect these industries, such as the FDA. As a Functional Medicine physician, I am interested in the science behind a new drug or nutrient supplement, as much as the quality of the research studies from which decisions are based. This is especially true with the Covid-19 vaccine which is the end result of research, clinical trials and FDA approval steps, just like any other new drug coming to market. This inoculation’s path from “bench” to CVS was titled “Project Warp Speed”, and has been tested and approved in record time. The title of the project alone should increase the scrutiny of those who know a bit about how to read and interpret medical research studies, to be cautious about the results. The storyline reads that because this vaccine uses the new mRNA technology cited above, it has been able to be fast tracked through testing and approval. That makes you an unofficial test subject in the short and long term, if you choose to be injected because this technology has not been used as a vaccine. ​ Thirdly; Is the landmark study which the FDA used as the basis for approval for this vaccine represent good science? Has it had proper peer review? (NEJMDecember 10, 2020 Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 VaccineDOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2034577) And has the research answered the most important questions regarding safety and efficacy? It is these questions and concerns I would like to address by briefly summarizing what I have learned about this vaccine, the research behind it, and some advice about moving forward for you my dear partners in health. Here are my concerns about the study which are less discussed: There were 2 age groups studied: Group 1: ages 16 to 55 years and Group 2: ages >55 years. How do a 75 year old, high risk individual compare with a 55 year old? We don’t know. Researchers use this broad sweeping age range like this when they want to blend the results to make the outcomes look better than they might otherwise might be. Otherwise, in most other viable studies, one would see the age groups broken down by decade and responses tracked and noted accordingly. This is not the case here. There was no identified exclusion criteria. That means researchers did not identify people with certain risk factors and exclude them from the study. We would hope the at risk individuals, like those over 70, with obesity, heart disease, allergies or diabetes would have been excluded. We learned on day 1 of the UK rollout that 2 nurses suffered anaphylactic shock due to allergies, and only after world-wide coverage of these events did Pfizer admit that yes indeed, there are exclusion criteria, but they didn’t report it initially. (What’s up with that!?) My suggestion: if you suspect you have any at risk condition for receiving this vaccine, it will be best you wait at the back of the line until more data surfaces in the months to come. Side effects such as headaches, fatigue, chills, muscle pain and joint pain were reported at a higher rate than with other vaccines. These effects were not -yet- tracked over time. Thus, the long term side effects remain unknown. The study did not address what should be -in my opinion the most important question of all: How many asymptomatic patients were there in the study who were positive with the virus? As a follow up to that, how many who were vaccinated were still able to spread the virus? We don’t know the answer. This data was not included in the tracking and testing of the participants. Dare I say, bad science practice? There was no consideration either about re-infections, and because we know someone can become reinfected, how effective will the vaccine be with those who have already contracted the Covid-19 virus? We don’t know. This data was not included in the tracking and testing of the participants. Should you get the Covid-19 vaccine? Is it safe? It is your choice to make with the evidence provided, the facts that you have. If you feel you are healthy in immunity and have no risk factors, and are anxious about contracting this bug, perhaps get the vaccine. Otherwise, it is an exercise in patience and caution. In either case, continue to support your health in ways that you’ve learned over the years with Dr. Bump. Eat your fruits and veggies, take long gentle walks, take quiet time, pray, laugh and play and take your citicholine ! ​ PS: Speaking of Citicholine : remember way back months ago when I spoke about the supplements ability to prevent coronavirus infection by strengthening the cell membranes? A recently published well done research study has demonstrated exactly that! (Molecules 2020, 25, 2271; doi:10.3390/molecules25102271)