Have you ever had the feeling that your body, mind and spirit were in three separate places, and that you needed the better part of the day to call them to a serious get-together? How about the nondescript notion that something is amiss, but you can’t quite put your finger on it, and it’s not sufficiently debilitating to see the doctor? You might be living with—or through—electromagnetic sensitivity (ES).

The off-season is the time for a well-deserved break, yet it might be viewed as a chance to get ready for next season. As each day passes you’ll lose the fitness that you worked so hard to get if you fail to do something to keep it. There’s no need to go to extremes, though. Looking at the off-season as part of your overall training cycle will keep you focused on maintaining the fitness level you need to get the job done.

Angiogenesis is the creation of new blood vessels, a process that occurs in both health and disease. When new tissue is formed, as in the healing of a wound or the creation of the placenta, blood vessel formation must occur as well. The body is awash in factors that act to signal the growth and differentiation of various cells, including those of the arteries and veins, and the arterioles, venules, and capillaries.

Some things never come our way, no matter how hard we try. Wouldn’t it be really cool if you could win the trillion dollar lottery at least once? Or maybe twice? On the other hand, some things do come to us without trying, like the in-laws at holiday time, the IRS in April, and the common cold, also known as coryza.

The most visible sign of U.S. nutrition policy is the Food Pyramid, or lately, the Food Plate. Recognizing that dietary quality plays a role in health and the prevention of chronic disease, the USDA issued a Pyramid revision in 2005 to address the shortcomings of the previous one. Walter Willett, chair of Harvard’s nutrition department, comments, “…the previous pyramid was in substantial discordance with current scientific evidence.”

There are quite a few products on the market that promise to heal wounds quickly. The one made from a combination of bacitracin, neomycin and polymyxin is so popular that it’s been copied as a generic. But it isn’t all-natural. For those interested in a natural alternative, there’s a new kid on the block, called beta-glucans, found in baker’s yeast and a few other common sources, and destined to be on the shelves as a gel in 2012. Heralded as a “super medicine,” beta-glucans are currently used in veterinary medicine, dietary supplements, and cosmetics. And Norwegian scientists say it has even more potential.

Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) is essential to the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, as well as for the synthesis of hormones and cholesterol. Deficiency is rare and likely to occur in cases of malnutrition. Its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, wound healing, and antiviral actions are now being studied.

About half of thiamin is found in skeletal muscle. Beriberi, more common in the 19th century, is a thiamin deficiency disease caused by a diet of highly polished rice, where the thiamin-rich husk is removed. Deficiency appears in alcoholics, those with malabsorption syndromes, and in long-term use of loop diuretics.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is among the most underdiagnosed, untreated and potentially deadly conditions people can face, raising the risk of heart attack and stroke. An aging population and an increase in obesity and diabetes are causing a wave of non-cardiac vascular disease, affecting as many as eight million people. Canadian cardiologists learned that five percent of the adults over fifty who were screened for PAD had it, but an astounding 80% were unaware of it.