The insomnia cure that works better
the longer you take it

One of the problems with sleeping pills is that their effectiveness tends to wear off the longer you take them. Your body adjusts to the drugs and they don’t work as well, if at all. But a new study reveals how a common natural sleep aide actually works better the longer you take it.

The study, a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study, looked at 791 men and women aged 18 to 80, all of whom suffered from insomnia. The researchers used questionnaires to evaluate how well each of the people slept. 

Lower your blood pressure with an ancient symbol for peace

If you take blood pressure medication, there’s new evidence that an extract from an ancient tree could help.

According to a new study, the leaf of the olive tree can lower your blood pressure as effectively as the drug Captopril. As you may know, the olive branch is an ancient symbol for peace. But this study shows that it has medicinal uses as well.

In the study, researchers gave the participants either an extract of the olive leaf or 12.5 mg of Captopril twice daily. In some cases, when needed, they increased the Captopril to 25 mg twice daily.

The truth about bottled teas

You’ve read here and elsewhere that both black and green teas are loaded with polyphenols. Polyphenols are plant chemicals that can do wonders to protect your health. Naturally, the food industry is trying to take advantage of the news. You’ll find bottled tea beverages promoted at just about any grocery store and health food store. But are these teas as healthy for you as fresh brewed tea?

Polyphenols are rather bitter tasting compounds. That explains some of the bitterness in many vegetables, like broccoli, as they’re loaded with these plant chemicals. I drink home-brewed green tea and can tell you it has lots of bitterness. But the American Chemical Society reports that the bottled teas aren’t nearly as bitter – nor do they have as many polyphenols.