What's My Alternative

If holiday stress has you OD’ing on sugary snacks or pouring yourself that third glass of wine at night, a new study from the Warwick Olfaction Research Group in England offers a saner solution: Simply smelling certain fragrances has a stress-reducing effect on the brain that’s similar to food and even some mood-altering drugs.

For two years, Michelle Marcon suffered from constant pain because of a herniated disk in her lower back, arthritis in both hips, and bone spurs in her heels. After walking for only a couple of minutes, pain would shoot down the back of her legs, and her left foot would go numb. “My pain got so bad that I had to quit my job,” says the Chicago-area dog walker.

All too often, the return of autumn means another round of nagging colds and flus. Don’t want to spend the next six months wrapped in a cocoon of blankets, downing hold-your-nose cough syrup and mystery capsules? Forget about starving the cold and feeding the fever, and follow the lead from three healing methods—ayurveda, naturopathy, and traditional Chinese medicine.

From fine dining to take-out Thai, Americans eat out much more than they used to—an average of four times every week. Food poisoning is also on the rise—it’s second only to the common cold in how frequently it strikes. Some 76 million Americans suffer from it each year.