Right Choice Index

Page Contents

Stress can interfere
with recovery

Complementary therapy

Available forms

Hospitals that offer
complementary therapy


Site Contents

Patients & visitors

Medical professionals

Yale-New Haven
Children's Hospital

General information

Calendar

Online resource

Press information

Phone Numbers

Directory assistance
(203) 688-4242

Patient Information
(203) 688-4177

Adult emergency
(203) 688-2222

Children's emergency
(203) 688-3333

Admitting
(203) 688-2221

Children's admitting
(203) 688-3331

Psychiatric admitting
(203) 688-9907


Mailing address:

Yale-New Haven Hospital
20 York Street
New Haven, CT 06504

Can Complementary Therapy Help You Recover Faster from Heart Problems?

More than 58 million Americans have one or more types of cardiovascular disease and many more are at risk of developing it. Recent scientific studies point to a relationship between the risk of heart disease and psychosocial factors, such as stress. Stress can be a positive motivating factor, but when stress is prolonged or comes from different sources at once, it can affect one's health.

Stress can interfere with recovery while in the hospital
Studies have shown admission to the hospital can cause stress, which might interfere with recovery and prolong hospitalization. To speed up healing and increase comfort, complementary therapies can be used to reduce the normal stress associated with hospitalization.

Yale-New Haven Hospital and complementary therapy
Yale-New Haven Hospital's coronary care unit (CCU) offers a range of complementary therapies to help patients with heart attack, cardiomyopathy, complicated angioplasty, unstable heart rhythms and patients waiting for heart transplants. The choice to use complementary therapy is entirely optional and voluntary, depending on the preferences of the individual patient.

What is complementary therapy?
Complementary therapy describes a number of healing techniques that, in some cases, originated thousands of years ago. It is based on the concept of balance and harmony among the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of a human being. It is practiced in combination with traditional medical care and serves in a supplementary role. The two disciplines complement each other and together they provide optimal health care.

Available forms of complementary therapy
Aromatherapy:
One of the ancient techniques used to reduce stress and enhance relaxation by using the fragrances of essential oils extracted from various healing herbs. Aromatherapy improves well being and relieves psychosomatic symptoms.

Guided Imagery:
Seeks to make beneficial physical changes in the body by repeatedly visualizing them. It has been advocated for conditions like stress, anxiety, high blood pressure, headaches and for people undergoing conventional cancer therapy or surgery.

Herbal Teas:
Designed to help patients relax and sleep. By offering teas, which naturally reduce stress and enhance digestion, health care providers may replace some antianxiety medicines, which can have adverse effects on patients.

Literature:
Literature, poetry, spiritual, religious and other readings are available from the coronary care units Jan Laffin Memorial Library to reduce anxiety and stress.

Massage Therapy:
Massage can provide relief from symptoms of anxiety, depression, insomnia and tension. Nurses use lotions to massage pulse points and the back.

Music:
Listening to one's favorite music helps relieve pain, stress and anxiety.

Nutrition:
"Let food be your medicine," counseled Hippocrates, the famed fifth-century BC Greek physician. One of the first steps to healing involves learning what foods supply the nutrients the body needs and how much of these foods should be eaten daily.

Reiki:
This ancient Japanese technique involves the laying of hands on to various parts of the body. It treats the body on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels.

Select a hospital for heart disease that offers complementary therapy
If you are admitted to YNHH's coronary care unit for a heart problem, you are more likely to be offered complementary therapy than at other hospitals.

Before you go elsewhere, ask these questions:

• Does the hospital offer complementary therapy?
• Which technique would be best for you?
• Do you or your doctor need to order them in advance?

Last revised: March 5, 2004 (cfs)

Home page URL: http://www.ynhh.org

All information is intended for your general knowledge and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. You should seek prompt medical care for any specific health issues and consult your physician before starting a new fitness regimen.