Alta Natural Medicine

06/25/2025

Fairbanks folks, did you feel it? Heat messes up sleep. Here’s what we know, and some things you can do.

Sleeping cool is self defense in a rapidly warming world. Why this matters and what you can do about it. Let's get into it.

04/30/2025

A fun thing happened a few weeks ago: I got invited to join Rosalee de la Forêt on her Herbs with Rosalee podcast!

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that we focussed on thyme — the garden medicine that got me started in herbalism.

It's really true that plant people are the best. Check out the podcast (audio or video) and you'll see what I mean.

Thanks to Rosalee and her whole team!

https://drornaizakson.com/thymes-unsurprising-medicinal-might/

02/23/2025

Did you know that prunes can help prevent or reverse bone loss in menopausal women?

I’m not talking about some fancy, expensive medicine that costs gazillions of dollars and only grows someplace far, far away.

Just regular prunes.

I’m also not talking about gigantic quantities that will give most folks nausea or other digestive problems.

Just 5-6 prunes daily will do it.

Here’s one study showing how little it takes to slow bone loss while keeping new bone forming. It’s not the only one, either!

What a delicious and simple way to address osteoporosis and osteopenia!

So tell me, are you planning to get prunes on your next grocery run?

Link is in the comments.

12/17/2024

Science is about having an idea, testing it, and then testing it some more. It fact checks itself by design over time. And here we see good science identifying flawed science, and responding accordingly.

Unfortunately, people who didn’t know much about science uncritically acted on the bad science. It costs lives and relationships.

Remember, COVID-19 is *still* very new — 5 years is a big chunk of a life, but not a ton of time to learn everything about a similar tricksy virus. This is why it’s important to continue taking precautions and not jump on the unproven.

https://www.science.org/content/article/infamous-paper-popularized-unproven-covid-19-treatment-finally-retracted

09/26/2024

07/31/2024

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/well/move/exercise-boost-mood.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

Are the Olympics inspiring you to use your body more? This article offers tips for getting the biggest mood boost for your effort. Take-home message: Persistence wins.

Link in comments because algorithm.

07/26/2024

I am excited to announce that I have officially joined the faculty of Psychiatry Redefined – the leader in functional mental health education.

In this role, I will create coursework around some of my main mental-health passions: herbal medicines in psychiatric practice, functional sleep support, and both winter and summer seasonal affective disorders. I will also be available directly to students in faculty office hours and online supervisions.

These courses are geared toward practitioners, including psychiatrists, naturopathic doctors, nurse practitioners, therapists and nutritionists.

I am honored to join Dr. James Greenblatt and the rest of the PR faculty in this important work.

Link in the comments.

07/18/2024

COVID vaccines are far from perfect. But reducing long-COVID risk by 72% is a big deal.

//Among vaccinated people who had been infected, the rates of long Covid were markedly lower. Differences in variants and other aspects of the Delta and Omicron periods played a role, the authors said, but they attributed about 72 percent of the decrease to vaccines.

About 5.3 percent of those infected during the Delta period had long Covid a year later, and 3.5 percent of those infected during the Omicron period did.

“This is lower than earlier phases, but it is not low,” Dr. Al-Aly said. “Multiplied by the huge number of people who continue to get infected and reinfected, 3.5 percent per 100 adults infected will translate into millions of additional cases of long Covid.”//

Link in comments.

03/26/2024

Do you *really* need fish oil supplements?

I did the math.

Link in comments.

03/17/2024

I’m just coming up for breath after jamming on two presentations I’m super excited about. Both are for the Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians upcoming spring seminar (April 6) and both focus on ways naturopathic doctors can prepare and respond clinically to climate change.

Some of you may know that this was the work I did as an environmental journalist before shifting to medicine. So there’s a coming-full-circle aspect to this. It’s engrossing and thrilling, and… Well, action is the antidote to despair, and this is my action.

And pretty soon I’m going to announce another part of my action on this front. Stay tuned.

https://drornaizakson.com/climate-change-conversations-for-medical-professionals/

03/16/2024

Here’s a food trend I can get behind!

(Link in comments.)

02/26/2024

Starting TOMORROW:

Please join me and 25 other health experts for the FREE Holistically Healthy Family Summit, Feb. 27 to March 1.

Tickets are FREE and the event is entirely online. (Access after the event is available for a fee.)

There’s going to be a ton of useful, interesting and fun topics, all with the goal of helping keep you and your families healthy naturally. These represent tools many of us have lost — and an opportunity to revive them.

My talk is on the third day, Feb. 29 (Leap Day!) Check out the schedule slides here to get a sense of what else is on offer and when.

There’s also a Facebook group where you can interact with fellow conferees and speakers.

I hope to see you there!

https://www.theherbalistspath.com/a/2147777010/kSiAwCQe