Cancer, sleep problems, and mind-body medicine use: Results of the 2017 National Health Interview Survey.

BACKGROUND: Sleep problems affect physical and emotional well-being as well as immune system function. Evidence has demonstrated an improvement in sleep problems in patients with cancer through the use of mind-body medicine (MBM). In the current study, the authors sought to elucidate the prevalence of sleep problems and the use of MBM in adult cancer survivors. METHODS: The authors analyzed data from the 2017 US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to estimate the prevalence of sleep problems and use of MBM in adult cancer survivors using means, standard deviations, weighted frequencies, and distributions. Backward stepwise multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent predictors of MBM use within the past 12 months: age, sex, ethnicity, region, educational level, employment, and time since cancer diagnosis. RESULTS: A weighted total of 13,750,028 cancer survivors (59.2%) reported sleep problems. For the most part, survivors with sleep problems were aged ≥40 years, female, and non-Hispanic white. More survivors with (weighted N = 3,794,493; 27.6%) compared with without (weighted N = 1,695,435; 17.9%) sleep problems used MBM. Among cancer survivors with sleep problems, the most commonly used mind-body practice was spiritual meditation (weighted N = 1,972,578; 14.3%), followed by yoga (weighted N = 1,695,553; 17.9%). The use of MBM was independently predicted by being female, living in the western United States, having a higher educational level, and being employed. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of sleep problems in cancer survivors is a major health issue that needs to be addressed. A considerable number of cancer survivors with sleep problems use MBM. This finding warrants the investigation of MBM concepts as treatment options for cancer survivors experiencing sleep problems.

[Dreams, their disorders and their therapeutic function in ancient Mesopotamia]. / Des rêves, de leurs troubles et de leur thérapeutiques dans la Mésopotamie ancienne.

In this article, the author analyzes the concept of dreams in ancient Mesopotamia, as well as the interpretation of their therapeutic function by this civilisation. Also discussed are sleep disorders, as described on cuneiform tablets, written on clay at least four thousand years ago. These tablets had a magic role but also functioned as medical texts, detailing therapies used in dealing with the problems of sleep.

"The man who made Peekskill famous": Dr. C.R. Johnston--first blind chiropractor.

Can a blind person be taught the art and science of chiropractic? If so, can a blind chiropractor be successful in practice? In 1918, Charles Robinson "C.R." Johnston, at the age of thirty-nine, was graduated from the Palmer School of Chiropractic--becoming not only the first blind D.C., but also one of the best known and most successful of his era. He practiced for twenty-five years in the small Hudson Valley community of Peekskill, New York, where his reputation as a "miracle healer" attracted hundreds of patients each week. The local press dubbed him "The Man Who Made Peekskill Famous." C.R. Johnston had come a long way from the Nevada mining camp where he was born. Accidentally blinded at age twenty-seven, he achieved notable success as a merchant before seeming to defy logic in choosing to begin again in a controversial new profession. But his attainments in chiropractic became equally inspirational... and the stuff of legend.