Lately, I could set a clock by my son's night wakings. I tease my husband that I will set my alarm for four in the morning and go stand over Owen's bed and surprise him, before he can invade our bed!

I started to thinking, though: why four o'clock in the morning? Deep in my memory, I recalled something about certain hours of the day being associated with different organ systems, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. So I looked it up.

Interesting, to say the least. It seems that the hours between three and five in the morning are when the lungs are most active. Well, wouldn't you know that Owen's allergies have been bothering him recently?

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A Beijing Organizing Committee said this week that athletes at next year's Beijing Olympics will be able to use traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) without fearing failure of drug tests that all Olympic athletes must take.

However, all TCM products ill face the same scrutiny and regulatory review as those drugs brought over from then west. A doctor who is responsible for medical services at the upcoming games did state, however, that "There is no direct relation between Chinese traditional herbal medicine and doping."

TCM products are generally all-natural and are not manufactured as pharmaceutical products and generally are excellent for human health (from immune support to sexual health). At least someone agrees that commercially-produced steroid drugs and TCM products are not in the same league -- they are not even close.

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Chinese herbs have been found more effective that standard drugs when it comes to the pain related with monthly menstruation, according to a new piece of research from Australia.

In fact, Chinese herbs may be more effective than even acupuncture or heat compression, as the study involving 3,500 women showed.

The end result included the researchers stating that Chinese herbs had "overall superiority" compared to other treatments, which included placebos (no treatment), NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), OCPs (oral contraceptive pill), acupuncture and heat compression.

I know many people who are huge fans of Chinese herbs (search for TCM on Wikipedia) for everything from colds to canker sores. Perhaps menstrual pain can be added to that list now. What do you think?

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Are you a tea drinker? I am, from blueberry to green tea. Not only is tea really good for you (except perhaps the caffeine), but according to Chinese scientists, tea can make you lose weight. They say it can be proved as well.

These scientists say they spent five years looking a obesity (focus on children) and determined that the polyphenol compound in tea can indeed help obese people lose weight over time.

Now, there are no specific facts in the source story on how this conclusion was determined, but after having heard many people in recent years swear by tea as a way to help lose weight, I'm inclined to agree with this Chinese study. Even if it is not true, there's no way I'm giving up that tea!

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Having trouble with allergies? How about high blood pressure? Are you using prescription medications or homeopathic remedies?

I'll bet that most of the U.S. population has never heard of a "homeopathic medicine," as these have been effectively shunned from the medical lexicon (a severe mistake) to make room for patentable and profitable synthetics. In my opinion, this is a disservice to the medical patient, but I'll move on.

TCM (traditional chinese medicines) are generally herbs (standardized for potency) that can help with so many common ailments it would boggle most minds. I've used TCMs for everything from stress relief to allergic and sinus relief with excellent results. You won't find them at the Wal-Mart pharmacy, but in health food stores.

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With cigarette sales slumping and entire cities declaring smoking bans, tobacco farmers have seen a drop in demand for their product. Add an influx of imported, cheaper grades of tobacco coming from China, Brazil and Zimbabwe, and the farmers started hitting hard times.

The federal government in Canada decided to provide help to this troubled industry. They offered an incentive to the farmers to switch to other types of crops.

Over the past few years, tobacco farmers have been taking them up on the offer. The $67-million aid package helped them move away from tobacco and to a range of healthier crops - ginseng, lavender, hemp, asparagus, sweet corn, strawberries and cucumbers.

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I've often wondered how prescription painkillers really work, so I asked an expert.

Dr. Stevan Walkowski is an osteopathic physician and acupuncturist. He works with people in pain every day. His Columbus, Ohio clinic, Wellcare Center for Health, offers services in osteopathy, acupuncture, massage therapy, reiki and the Feldenkrais Method.

Here is my interview with him, exclusive to That's Fit.


That's Fit: How do prescription painkillers really work?

Dr. Walkowski: Well Daryl, that's a very complex question. There are many different types of painkillers on the market today and each category treats pain with a slightly different mechanism of action. For simplicity, let's consider the most common over-the-counter medications. These are non-opiate, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, and this category of drugs includes aspirin, acetominophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Motrin).

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