Millions Turning To Complementary Medicine, Report Says

DETROIT (WWJ) - A new report from the National Institutes of Health finds millions of adults and children in the U.S. are adding complementary health to traditional medicine.

Complementary approaches to medicine include things such as yoga, meditation, herbs and acupuncture, explained Daniel Neides, an Integrative Medicine expert at Cleveland Clinic.

"These are all modalities that help to reduce stress within the body," said Neides, "and it can only enhance how the immune system functions and how the immune system responds to chronic disease."

The National Institutes of Health looked at the trend of complementary approaches among adults over a 10-year period, between 2002 and 2012; and for children, between 2007 and 2012.

The new data shows the numbers of adults practicing yoga during that time doubled to 21 million; and nearly 2 million children are practicing yoga, too.

The survey also shows about 18 million adults and about a million children now meditate.

"So many studies, wonderful studies, are being done looking at not only integrative medicine practices, but the use of supplements to treat disease," Neides said. "And moving forward this is definitely going to be on the forefront."

For more information, find the complete report at this link.