Why homeopathy works

The power of the placebo

“What?!” I hear you exclaim. “Has our Sceptic Guru gone soft? Is he claiming that homeopathy works? No! Say it ain’t so!” Fear not, lover of science and logic. To paraphrase the Iron Lady: this Guru’s not for turning. Yes, homeopathy works – but it has nothing to do with homeopathy itself. Confused? Let our Sceptic Guru, Daryl Ilbury, explain all.

Homeopathy, one of a number of so-called ‘alternative’ medicine practices, uses highly diluted forms of medication (called ‘therapies’) to treat a range of ailments. The central tenet of homeopathy is to use ‘like to cure like’. In other words, homeopaths believe that you need to identify the substance causing an ailment and use a watered-down version of that substance to help the body fight it.

This logic isn’t as odd as it might first seem. In fact, vaccines work in a similar way. When we’re immunised against a particular disease, the vaccine we’re injected with actually contains a harmless version of the bug or virus that causes the disease – and this stimulates our immune system so that it’s primed to respond if it ever meets the real, harmful version of the bug or virus in the future.

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Massage Therapy… What is it Good For? [OPINION] A Therapist speaks out

Every week, we publish an opinion piece. A couple of weeks ago, one article about massage therapy caused quite a stir. In the interests of balance, massage therapist Glen Beckel argues the case for massage therapy… 

Recently there has been new evidence on the benefits of massage therapy, from various organizations, typically sponsored by the massage therapy community.  But even more appealing to the average person on the street is that much of the new evidence on the benefits of massage is now coming from independent universities. From this new research, the American College of Physicians and American Pain Society now include massage therapy as one of their recommended treatment plans for treating lower back pain. This, in many cases is due to some sort of muscle imbalance, for which massage therapy is best known to help. (more…)

9 Ways I Know that I’m in Grad School [OPINION]

Every week, Guru publishes an opinion article: rants, personal stories, reviews or art/photos. Today, it is new graduate student Kyle Pastor to share some insight on the student life. Want to share your opinion? All are welcome!
Please leave your comments for Kyle at the end of the article.

So it finally happened! I completed my undergrad in Physics and now I am off to the wonderful world of graduate school. What is this mystical adventure like you ask? Come with me as I guide you through a typical day in my new and exciting life! (more…)

Massages feel nice – but are they a load of old quackery? [OPINION]

If you’ve ever had a massage professionally administered you can probably attest to how good it feels. And if something feels that good it must also be good for you, right? Well maybe not. Cocaine and Heroin also feel good…

I’m not here to tell you that massage is dangerous – although I’m sure there are some examples of people being harmed by an overly-zealous masseur/masseuse. I want to challenge the notion that massage does beneficial things to the human body other than “feeling good”. Now before you get all het-up I want you to think about something: Confirmation Bias. When you like something, such as going for a massage, you will latch on to any and all information that confirms your bias. That is the way our brains are wired. A critical thinker is someone who will reserve judgement then examine the evidence. (more…)

Never trust an expert – unless they’re talking about their expertise

Jamie Oliver!!!  I know my son, your intentions are good. But seriously, you are not a registered dietician. You have been trained to prepare food and baked goods. And you do it in an entertaining manner with creativity and with flair. But geez man, leave the nutrition to the experts. If you want to be involved then use your celebrity status to endorse someone who does know what they’re talking about (and also, that’s not a little olive oil)

I’m a personal trainer and people constantly ask me for nutritional advice. But I can’t ethically tell them anything useful – it’s not what I am trained to do. I am trained to teach people how to exercise safely. And that is where my skill-set stops.

I know some of you may be inclined to protest this –especially if you are also personal trainers. But let’s think about some similar situations to get perspective. (more…)

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror (DVD review)

Is online shopping is better? 5 reasons to ditch the high-street

Today’s guest opinion writer argues that shopping is best done online. Disagree? Got an opinion? Leave your comments below… If you’ve got an opinion to share, why not send it to the Guru team?

Online shopping is often considered something takes us away from the experience of ‘real shopping’. However in my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. Online stores are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and they offer the ability for customers to shop in a more personalized manner, make their own decisions, and all without being influenced by the bright lights and ads that are so prevalent throughout physical stores.

Five reasons why online shopping is better

1. Shopping in silence

Almost any store that you walk into plays some type of music over the speaker system. The music plays a number of roles: such as being relaxing, advertising products and is often seasonal. Many large stores also use product or brand advertising in between songs. This can be very intrusive during shopping, especially during the Holiday season where most stores play only Christmas songs. When you are shopping online this clearly isn’t an issue, a online stores do not generally have music and if they do you can just hit the mute button. If you want the relaxation of music then you are able to listen to your own music instead of what is chosen by the store.

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Wrestling With Preconceptions: Exclusive interview with TNA star Samoa Joe

In this exclusive interview, TNA Wrestling’s Samoa Joe talks to Guru Magazine about wrestling criticism, international expansion, and managing his hard-hitting style!

A couple of weeks ago, a world-first happened here in the UK.

You may not have heard about it at the time, but at London’s Wembley Arena in late January, one of the world’s largest professional wrestling organisations, TNA Wrestling, filmed its flagship television show Impact  in front of a record crowd.

Photo credit: Tony Knox

What’s that you say – professional wrestling?

Yes, I know it’s not a typical subject matter here at Guru Magazine – but a not-very-well-kept secret about me is that I have been a fan of the sport (or ‘sports entertainment’ as it’s more commonly referred to these days), for over 20 years – and have spent each and every one of those years fending off well-meaning jibes, comments and criticism from my friends and peers – which has only increased as I have gotten older and haven’t “grown out of it”.

Watching professional wrestling continues to be a huge passion of mine, and in a future issue of Guru, I will be looking to explore the Science Behind Wrestling – refuting some of the preconceptions that exist about the industry and explaining why, to me and many others around the globe, there is no greater art-form on the planet. And yes, before you say it, I’m well aware that the outcomes are predetermined! (more…)

Is running really bad for your knees? A personal trainer explains…

I love to run. Seriously, I love to run. Getting up every day and running for hours would be paradise. But I can’t do that. I would break.

When I speak to people about running I’m often met with head shaking and concerned looks. “Running is really bad for your knees”. Or the elaborate appeal from authority “I know a physiotherapist and she said running will destroy your joints and you won’t be able to walk when you’re older”.

OK, so let’s push ourselves away from the table full of emotion and break down these claims. Running is fast jogging. Jogging is slower running. And both are just speeded up forms of walking with some bouncing thrown in. As with most things in life it is the quantity that can kill you. Everything – and I mean everything – is bad for you in high enough quantities. Hyper-hydration is the consumption of too much water over a short period of time. It can, and does, kill people. But don’t stress. We are talking lots of water. Back to the running….

To understand why running is both good and bad we need to think about what exercise is: (more…)

Twas in the Moon of Wintertime…

On the eighth day of Christmas, my Guru revealed to me… Christmas card myths!

With the festive season well and truly here, it seemed like the perfect time to bring a Christmas-themed astronomy story to the Guru site – with a bit of a scrooge-y twist!

Pretty? Astronomically misleading, or so says physicist Peter Barthel.Bah Humbug!

“The lack of knowledge concerning the physical origin of the moon phases, or lack of interest in understanding, is found to be widespread,” Barthel states, following his published scientific paper (yes, really) in which he declares that images portrayed on Christmas wrap and cards are “scientifically incorrect”. And the award for pedant of the year goes to…! (more…)