Gotham Acupuncture

Acupuncture for Sleep Apnea

A research article appearing in the journal Sleep Medicine concludes acupuncture is effective in ameliorating the respiratory problems associated with moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS).

Below is the abstract.

Sleep Medicine, vol 8, issue 1, January 2007, pp 43-50
Treatment of moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with acupuncture: A randomised, placebo-controlled pilot trial

Anaflávia O. Freirea, Gisele C.M. Sugaib, Fernanda Silveira Chrispina, Sônia Maria Togeiroa, Ysao Yamamurac, Luiz Eugênio Mellod, ,  and Sérgio Tufika
aSleep Division, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
bDepartment of Neurology/ Neuroscience, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
cDivision of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
dDepartment of Physiology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Rua Botucatu 862, 04023-062 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Received 29 November 2005;  revised 14 April 2006;  accepted 14 April 2006.  Available online 4 October 2006.

Abstract

Background and purpose: To investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), assessed by polysomnography (PSG) and questionnaires of functional quality of life (SF-36) and excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth).

Patients and methods: We performed a randomised, placebo-controlled, single-blinded study, with blinded evaluation on 36 patients presenting an apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) of 15–30/h, assessed by PSG. The study took place at the Public Hospital of the Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil, in the Division of Sleep Disorders of the Department of Psychobiology, between January, 2002 and August, 2004. Patients were randomly assigned to three groups: the acupuncture group (n = 12); the sham group, submitted to needle insertion in non-acupoints (n = 12); and the control group, receiving no treatment (n = 12). Patients received acupuncture or sham acupuncture once a week for 10 weeks.

Results: Twenty-six patients completed the study. The AHI (P = 0.005), the apnea index (AI) (P = 0.008) and the number of respiratory events (P = 0.005) decreased significantly in the acupuncture group but not in the sham group. On the other hand, the control group displayed significant deterioration in some of the polysomnographic parameters, with a significant increase in the number of respiratory events (P = 0.025). Acupuncture treatment significantly improved (before vs. after treatment) several dimensions of the SF-36 and Epworth questionnaires. There was no significant association between changes in the body mass index (BMI) and AHI.

Conclusions: Acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture in ameliorating the respiratory events of patients presenting with moderate OSAS.

Keywords: Acupuncture; Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome; Polysomnography; Quality of life; Excessive daytime sleepiness

Research shows acupuncture is safe

We know acupuncture is safe, but it's nice to see a research article which shows this to be the case.

Oprah to feature Tunnel to Towers Run

Frank Vogt sent this announcement around. His family has organized the Tunnel to Towers 5K run/walk in memory of his uncle, a firefighter who died on 9/11. The event is going to be featured on Oprah's September 11th commemorative episode.

Just thought it would be a good time to plug the charity run/walk/street fest that my family organizes in honor of all those who died, including my uncle and friend Stephen Siller.  My family (mom, aunts and uncles) will be on Oprah (filming sept 10 for show on sept 11) to talk about the run and the charity.  It is a show related to what good people have done in relation to 9/11.  I have pasted an article from the NY Post about the show.

August 30, 2007 -- Oprah is coming to New York to tackle 9/11.

The queen of daytime TV is taping a show at Madison Square Garden next month about some of the "good things" that have come out of the city's darkest day.

It will be the first "Oprah Winfrey Show" from New York in 10 years.

Winfrey has kept the details of her upcoming New York shows - she will tape two here on Sept. 10 - under strict wraps.

But The Post has learned that her producers have been calling local TV stations to obtain archival footage from 9/11 and its after math.

The show, which usually tapes in Chicago, has booked a number of families and friends of 9/11 victims who have got ten through the tragedy and found a positive side to the experience and used it to help others, according to knowledge able sources.

One segment will be about Stephen Siller - a 34-year-old firefighter from Staten Island who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel on 9/11 to get to the burning towers, and lost his life when the buildings collapsed.
His family established the now-annual Tunnel to Towers 5K run in his honor. More than 15,000 people participated in the run last year.
The money raised goes to a foundation for pediatric burn units and children who have lost one or more parents.
Winfrey's representatives yesterday declined to comment.

Tickets for the "Oprah" tapings were snapped up in just a few hours last week.

The MSG appearances represent the premiere shows for her new season, Winfrey's 22nd year as host.

David Letterman has agreed to be Oprah's first guest of the season. The pair settled a long-running "tongue-in-cheek" feud a few years ago, when she agreed to appear on Letterman's "Late Show."

Letterman will appear on the first of the two "Oprah" MSG episodes.

Since 9/11, Winfrey has done dozens of shows related to the attacks and their aftermath.

Among them were tributes on both Father's and Mother's Day, news reporters' personal stories, and interviews with Rudy Giuliani, former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and survivors.

Other 9/11-themed episodes have featured resident shrink Dr. Phil McGraw helping people deal with fear and grief.

Other "Oprah" shows have also dealt with educating people about many of the issues associated with 9/11, from "Islam 101" to "Living with Terrorism."

All in all, Winfrey has devoted nearly 40 episodes to 9/11 since 2001.

She also served as master of ceremonies at one of the first major memorials held for the victims on Sept. 23, 2001, at Yankee Stadium.

"Every one of those people who got up last Tuesday, no doubt thought it was going to be an ordinary day, and by 8:48, we all knew nothing was ordinary anymore," she said at the time.

"We all know for sure now how fragile, how uncertain, yet extraordinary, life can be. May we always remember."

Going against our nature

Recently a friend illustrated what happens when we try to go against our nature.

As a newly licensed practitioner of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), she had a small but steadily growing practice. After graduating school she was very focused on building her practice and her momentum seemed unstoppable. Like many who try to build a business as new initiates, she also held a day job at which she worked full time. Making it to the office five days a week while practicing CAM in the evenings and weekends became a nice groove for her, although over time her focus somehow shifted from building her practice to making more money at her office job and advancing her career there. Her ambition became to transfer to a higher position within the same company, one with a larger salary, a larger office, and clearer opportunity for advancement.

To this end, she applied for several jobs and soon HR was offering her a choice between two positions. One had a large office, a positive and nurturing environment with flexible hours which would allow her more latitude to see clients during the week, but there was little opportunity for advancement. The second position was among a collection of cubicles, in an office with no windows, doing unstimulating work, but for 20% more salary than the first offer and obvious opportunity for advancement after a few years.

So the quandary facing her was whether to delay her gratification in favor of her career, or to sacrifice career and income in favor of immediate happiness. Feeling compelled by friends and family to make what they perceived to be the sensible decision, she weighed the options and made what she believed was the right choice. Maybe one day she would have an actual office with windows, but for now working like a ‘drone’ with only fluorescent lighting would allow her to save more money and virtually guaranteed her a chance to move up later.

The day after she accepted the position, she had a change of heart.

"I basically had this strong sense I was going to regret being in the position I had chosen. I would have suffocated. It would have been a very isolating position, minimal contact with people, which I would have found really unbearable. I would have felt stuck. I wanted a more dynamic environment, but unfortunately I realized this late."

When she started to have a physical feeling about her decision, she knew she had to take action. “The feeling I had about it was dreadful: a heavy feeling, basically a heightened sense of anxiety.

"I didn't think it was too late to change my mind, so I contacted HR and told them I wanted to rescind my decision and accept the lower-paying position, with a nicer environment instead."

HR’s reaction was not without emotion. “The woman basically said ‘how dare you change your mind and spring this on me, I have given you every chance to declare yourself until now… I’m not sure I want you in either position.'

"At that point, I thought ‘My God, what have I done... I’ve unwittingly destroyed my future.’ I believed I had lost three jobs: the position I accepted, the position I wanted, and the position I had at the time at which I had already given notice.

"Oddly enough, I was very calm, almost numb. I had only a calm sense of dread. Then I could not concentrate, my brain started yelling, and then I panicked. I had this desperate sense that I had to stop this disaster."

After talking with a friend, she began to calm down and began to get some perspective.

"I didn't loose a leg, I wasn’t sick or dying, my family's ok. Actually it's just a job, unrelated to what I want to do; it pays the bills and that's it. My initial feeling after HR’s tongue-lashing was that I had really made a terrible mistake by trying to pull a switch, but it became clear to me that my real mistake was taking a job I didn’t want in the first place. In choosing the money over happiness, I went against what I truly wanted, I went against my nature."

This illustrates one of the principles of Chinese medicine: live in harmony with the environment, and your life will be healthy. Go against it, and chaos ensues. That also goes for our internal environment. Creating dissonance against our internal rhythms – be they physical, emotional, or spiritual - can be as disastrous. If you think about it, you can see the results all the time - GERD, anxiety and panic, insomnia, tension and pain in the body, IBS, the list is as diverse as we are.

She was fortunate, because she realized within 24 hours that she didn't want the job, rather than arriving at the same conclusion a year later. The whole experience also brought her attention back to what she truly wanted to build for herself.

"I had never intended to be doing this work, but I had slowly started accepting over a couple of years that perhaps this is what I would end up doing with my life forever. I tried to make it a career, but it was a career I didn't want. Had I wanted it, accepting the higher-paid position would have been no problem, and I would have rewarded myself rather than becoming so uncomfortable with my decision that I had to rebel and get out of it by sabotaging myself."

That is the result of going against your nature. Fortunately for her, self-sabotage ultimately played a positive role.

"I had lost focus of what I wanted to do: to start my own alternative medicine company. I had a vision of myself as female entrepreneur, as a business owner, and as a success in those ways. I started to remember those things, and remembered that my future had nothing to do with this job or even this company. It was just a job to which I had given a lot of undue importance."

New Amsterdam Public Anniversay Celebration September 19th

August 2007

Dear Friends and Supporters:

New Amsterdam Public has been working behind the scenes for far too long. To celebrate a year of progress and share our current thoughts with you, we would like to invite you to our first public event – a casual get-together at the Seaport’s SPACE Gallery - on September 19th, 2007. 

New Amsterdam Public is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to create New York City’s first year-round, indoor, public, market where butchers, grocers, fish and cheese mongers, and other purveyors sell regional, sustainable food.  This new institution would emerge in Lower Manhattan’s Seaport neighborhood, which has been a site for trade since the founding of New Amsterdam, and which has hosted public markets for three centuries.

Over the past year, we have shared our vision with elected officials, civic groups, community advocates, and leaders of the sustainable food movement.  The response has been overwhelmingly positive (see our website for a list of our supporters).  Everyone agrees that the Seaport is the perfect site for a new market that will promote and support sustainable agriculture, healthy, quality food, and expert purveyors.  We view this market as a perfect compliment to the Mayor’s recently released sustainability plan: PlaNYC 2030.

We look forward to meeting you on September 19th and to discussing how you can join us in making our vision come to fruition!

Sincerely,

Jill Slater and Robert LaValva
co-founders
New Amsterdam Public, a 501 c3 organization promoting a sustainable food system for NYC through the establishment of a public food market at the Seaport.

What: Wine & Cheese, Anniversary Celebration
Where: Space Gallery, 133 Front Street (corner of Beekman St.)
When: September 19th, 6-8:30pm
RSVP: rsvp@newamsterdampublic.org

Directions by Subway:
2,3,4,5 Fulton Street Station
A,C,E,J,M,Z Broadway/Nassau Station
Walk east down Fulton Street to Front. Make a left. Space Gallery is on the corner of Front and Beekman (one block north of Fulton St.)

Press:
New York Magazine (February 07)
Tribeca Trib (October 06)
Downtown Express (September 06)