Raleigh Health & Wellness Center

11/08/2025

🩺 You may have seen the headlines — but here’s what they missed about melatonin and your heart.

Recent reports warned that melatonin might raise the risk of heart failure by 90%. That sounds alarming — but context matters.

The study behind those headlines hasn’t been peer-reviewed and only shows an association, not proof of harm. It followed people with insomnia — a condition that already increases cardiovascular risk through higher nighttime cortisol, sympathetic activation, and inflammation.

💡 What melatonin actually does:
Melatonin is a hormone released by the pineal gland in response to darkness. It helps coordinate circadian rhythm — the internal clock that regulates sleep, hormone release, blood pressure, and glucose metabolism.

Beyond its sleep role, melatonin acts as a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory molecule, helping neutralize free radicals, protect mitochondria, and support vascular health. Some studies even suggest it can help regulate blood pressure and improve endothelial function.

It’s not a sedative; it’s a signal. Short-term use (for jet lag or shift work) can be beneficial, but nightly, long-term use without guidance may interfere with your body’s natural rhythm or mask deeper issues such as stress, hormone imbalance, or sleep apnea.

Support natural rhythm and heart health:
🌿 Gentle evening acupuncture to calm the vagus nerve and lower nighttime cortisol
🥣 A warm, protein-rich evening meal — not too late
🕯️ Dim lights and screens an hour before bed
🌙 Keep a consistent bedtime and wake time
🧘‍♀️ Practice relaxation or breathwork to settle the nervous system

🔍 Bottom line:
There’s no solid evidence that melatonin damages the heart.
In fact, its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects may support cardiovascular repair and resilience when used appropriately.

Still, even “natural” supplements benefit from medical practitioner supervision, particularly with long-term use or pre-existing heart conditions.

✨ Sleep is medicine. Restore your rhythm, protect your heart, and rest from the inside out.

08/21/2025

✨ Acupuncture & Pain Relief: New Research Insights ✨

A 2024 Pain Reports update underscores what many patients and practitioners already know—acupuncture is more than symptom management. 🌿

🔹 How it works:
Acupuncture’s effects are supported by a large and growing body of research. It works on multiple levels:

• Local changes at the needling site 🩹
• Calming pain signals in the spinal cord and brain 🧠
• Releasing natural opioids and biochemical mediators 🌸
• Modulating brain networks that shape how we sense and process pain

Neuroimaging even shows that acupuncture shifts brain activity tied to pain, mood, and cognition.

🔹 Beyond pain relief:
Importantly, acupuncture may also target what drives pain—like chronic inflammation—by influencing autonomic pathways. This means it can help address underlying causes, not just mask symptoms.

🔹 Clinical significance:
✔️ Safe and effective when performed by licensed practitioners
✔️ Utilized as both a stand-alone and complementary therapy
✔️ Supported by traditional practice and modern biomedical research
✔️ Considered a practical, cost-conscious option in integrative care

💡 Acupuncture is a multifaceted intervention—its impact depends on point selection, technique, and the therapeutic relationship. When thoughtfully applied, it becomes not just a treatment, but a whole-person approach to easing pain and restoring balance.

✨ Integrative pain care means more options, less reliance on medication, and renewed hope.

08/13/2025

08/10/2025

A day well spent 🌿
Strolling in nature with a dear friend—no phones, no rush.
Just the shimmer of the water, the whisper of the trees, and conversation that nourishes the soul. ✨

08/08/2025

🩺 Acupuncture for High Blood Pressure?

New Research from China | 2025 Clinical Trial in Progress

A new study is exploring how acupuncture may help manage essential hypertension—that is, high blood pressure without a known cause.

The technique being studied is called HuoXueSanFeng, developed by a leading acupuncture expert in China. It uses a precise set of acupuncture points and carefully controlled needling techniques to help lower blood pressure safely and effectively.

📍Points used in the study:
ST-9, DU-20, LI-11, LI-4, ST-36, LR-3

📅 The protocol includes 18 sessions over 6 weeks (3 times per week), and results are expected in November 2025.

💡 Why this matters:
Standardized protocols like this are important for research because they allow scientists to measure results consistently across large groups of people.

But in everyday clinical care, acupuncture is always personalized. At Raleigh Health & Wellness, we tailor each treatment to your unique health picture—taking into account stress, sleep, digestion, emotional health, and more.

Acupuncture is not one-size-fits-all—and that’s exactly why it works.

07/27/2025

🧬 Part 4 is here: Rebuild & Restore
⁠
Once the microbial clutter is cleared, healing can finally begin.⁠
⁠
In this new post, we explore the critical next step in gut recovery: repairing the intestinal lining and restoring immune balance.⁠
⁠
🔹 Learn how nutrients like L-glutamine, zinc carnosine, and vitamin A rebuild the gut barrier.
🔹 Discover the soothing power of herbal demulcents like slippery elm, DGL, and marshmallow root.
🔹 Understand how immunoglobulins and probiotics help modulate inflammation and reestablish tolerance.
⁠
This phase is not about more restriction—it is about restoration. Healing the gut lining allows everything else to settle: reactivity, inflammation, mood, and more.⁠
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📝 Read the full blog: [link in bio]
📍 Raleigh Health & Wellness Center
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07/26/2025

💛 Healing in the In-Between 💛

“The idea of striving for some beautiful, perfect state of wellness? It mires us in eternal dissatisfaction, a goal forever out of reach. To be well now is to learn to accept whatever body and mind I currently have.”

—Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms

Between Two Kingdoms is not just a memoir—it is a meditation on what it means to live, to heal, and to find yourself again after life is interrupted.

Suleika Jaouad’s journey through cancer is raw, poetic, and profoundly human. She does not offer tidy answers—but instead invites us to inhabit the space between illness and health, despair and hope.

At Raleigh Health & Wellness, we support patients through that uncertain space between illness and recovery—during cancer treatment, chronic pain, and emotional transitions. Her story echoes what we witness daily: quiet strength, invisible healing, and the courage to keep going.

This is a book for anyone who has ever asked: What now?

💛 Highly recommended for our community of seekers, survivors, and those walking their own road between two kingdoms.

📍 For more support on the cancer journey, visit

07/23/2025

✨ If It Sounds Too Good to Be True… It Usually Is

In the world of wellness, there is no shortage of miracle supplements or viral “hacks” that promise to fix everything overnight — boost energy, flatten your belly, improve your sleep, and heal your hormones.

But true, lasting health rarely comes from shortcuts.

It is built over time —
📅 One nourishing meal,
🛏 One night of quality sleep,
💧 One glass of water,
🧘 One moment of calm,
🏃‍♀️ One walk at a time.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or burnt out by trying to find the solution, come back to the basics. Your body is wired for rhythm, not extremes. And consistency — not perfection — is what makes a real difference.

Let us help you return to what matters most.
Raleigh Health & Wellness is here to support your long game.

07/19/2025

Raleigh, you are showing off again. 🌻✨

There is something magical about this time of year—when the air feels warmer, the skies stretch wide in every direction, and sunflowers bloom like sunshine planted straight into the ground.

Whether you are driving past a field, walking a trail, or just catching a golden glimpse at the farmer’s market, Raleigh reminds us to pause, breathe, and notice beauty when it blooms.