Vaccines are a common method of heading off deadly diseases. The trick in developing a vaccine is finding a weaker form of the disease that can trigger an immune response, so that when the real disease shows up, the immune system is locked and loaded for it. The word vaccine flows from the Latin vacca for cow.

The original vaccine was for smallpox; when a British scientist found that milk maid weren’t getting smallpox, he found that cowpox, a much milder illness, gave them immunity to smallpox. They then proceeded to deliver the cowpox virus to folks, fending off the now-extinct (other than lab samples) smallpox virus.

One modern method finds an attenuated (weakened) version of a virus, one that will trigger an immune response to the virus but won’t wreck havoc on the body of the person getting vaccinated. That takes time, for the virus first has to be identified and then a crippled version of the virus will need to be created.

A second route is to kill the viruses and then inject them. Such killed viruses are safer for a lot of high-risk groups, like children under 2, the elderly and folks with immune-deficiencies.

The nasal-spray version of the vaccine is a live virus version, so at-risk folks or people who live with them should avoid it and get the killed-virus shot version.

Vaccines can cause reactions in people, so people are often leery of them. However, most vaccines are well-tested before given to a broad population and the side-effects will be far less than the effects of the virus, else it won’t be given. That hasn’t kept health care workers in New York from protesting having to get the vaccine.

However, it won’t help if you already have the flu ; one student of mine noted that she had scheduled a flu shot for a week from now and then proceeded to catch the flu.

Like I said earlier the universal controlling energy is “chi” and by regulating this energy or channelizing this energy we can achieve perfect health.

Reflexology for healthy lifestyle: Reflexology practitioners suggest giving pressure to all the points in the hand using one of the instruments available in the market everyday for five to fifteen minutes to maintain a healthy body. With reflexology every organ can be vitalized and overall functioning is improved.

Detection of diseases with Reflexology: A reflexology practitioner is able to detect the exact problem including major diseases like cancer or heart attack. Also there are specific points which pertain to overall immunity enhancement and pain relief which can be used as complimentary treatment with other treatments.

Scientific approach?: Reflexology does not have any scientific proof or base. Till date there is no solid scientific proof or evidence of the efficiency. Scientists have strictly condemned it’s use as a main treatment stream for serious complications. Though they claim it’s not efficient there are evidences of reflexology being used for centuries.

A reflexologist detects the problem using the stress clues that are seen as visual signs of knobby toes etc. The reflexogist then fixes a time and targets the area of stress and applies a proper pressure technique to relax and ease out the stress thus giving relief to the patient. The patient is generally relaxed as the treatment is generally not too painful and most of the times bearable and relaxation or relief is achieved during the treatment itself.

There are lot of people who speak for and against this treatment methodology and unlike acupressure which has been accepted as a treatment method this is outright rejected by many. There are lot of self-help books available in the market which can go a long way in learning and practicing this art.