As you know, mainstream medicine has very little to offer men and women who suffer from dementia. Fortunately, more and more research shows the ancient Chinese technique of acupuncture can positively affect the brain.
In fact, it can help rehabilitate patients after they suffer a cerebral stroke. It also helps manage chronic pain that occurs after suffering a stroke.
Plus, in three recent studies from China, researchers found this ancient technique also helps alleviates dementia and cognitive impairment following a stroke.
90 percent effective in just 8 weeks
In the first study, researchers from Anhui University of Chinese Medicine followed 60 patients with vascular dementia.
Vascular dementia is a general term that describes problems with reasoning, planning, judgment, memory and other thought processes caused by brain damage from impaired blood flow to your brain. You can develop vascular dementia after a stroke blocks an artery in your brain.
The researchers randomly divided vascular dementia patients into two groups. The first group received acupuncture with a long needle and the second group received it with a thin needle.
Practitioners administered acupuncture once per day for five continuous days, followed by a two day break from treatment. The total treatment period was eight weeks comprised of eight courses of acupuncture care.
The first group — which received acupuncture with a long needle — experienced a 90 percent total effective rate. The second group — which received treatment with a thin needle — achieved a 67 percent total effective rate. Both quite impressive!
Unique brain-healing combo from the “black dragon province”
In the second study at Heilongjiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, researchers compared the effects of acupuncture plus cognitive training to just cognitive training alone in patients with non-dementia vascular cognitive impairment (VCIND).
The group that received both cognitive training and acupuncture experienced significantly greater positive outcomes compared to the group that received only cognitive training. The results demonstrate that acupuncture is effective as part of a comprehensive therapeutic approach for the treatment of VCIND.
I was happy to see such good work coming out of Heilongjiang. Back in the late 1980s, when I conducted research in China, I worked with a senior investigator from Heilongjian which means “black dragon province,” located northeast of Manchuria in the far north.
Acupuncture trumps drug treatment
In the third study, researchers from Tianjin University of Traditional Medicine compared a common drug to acupuncture for the treatment of a condition known as cerebral circulatory insufficiency (CCCI).
Atherosclerosis or stroke can cause CCCI. It results in dizziness, tinnitus, blurred vision, depression, memory impairment and dementia. Like vascular dementia and non-dementia vascular cognitive impairment, CCCI stems from poor circulation to the brain and body.
In this study, patients who received acupuncture had an 88 percent response rate. By comparison, those who received the calcium channel blocker drug nimdopine had a 76 percent response rate.
Another natural weapon in the war against Alzheimer’s
Clearly, acupuncture does a lot more than just reduce pain. It appears to improve blood flow to the brain, which is important in preventing and reversing certain types of dementia.
Overall, these studies add more evidence to the claim we can reverse dementia using natural approaches.
In the February issue of my Insiders’ Cures newsletter, I will report on all-natural approaches for reversing dementia.
I will also report in upcoming issues on the brain benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. Turns out, in addition to reducing stress, moderate alcohol consumption may even help reverse Alzheimer’s disease (AD), perhaps through positive effects on blood flow.
Researchers now consider stress an underlying factor when it comes to AD. I certainly see stress as a major factor behind high blood pressure, heart disease, and metabolic disorders, and possibly some cancers.
But moderate alcohol consumption reduces stress. And anything that reduces stress reduces the risks of chronic diseases and consequently extends longevity.
We also know moderate alcohol consumption also expands the blood vessels by relaxing the smooth muscle tissues in the walls of blood vessels. This mechanism helps deliver more blood and oxygen to the brain. And when you get more oxygen to the brain, it appears to help prevent and even reverse dementia, according to the new evidence. I’ll tell you more about all the new research in a future issue of Insider’s Cures. If you’re not yet a newsletter subscriber, now is the perfect time to get started.
Sources:
“Acupuncture Alleviates Dementia and Cognitive Impairment,” Healthcare Medicine Institute (www.healthcmi.com) 12/6/2015
“Clinical Effect of Long-Term Scalp Acupuncture in Treatment of Vascular Dementia: A Report of 30 Cases,” Journal of Anhui Traditional Chinese Medical College; 33(2)