Picture3Yep, I’ve had them…and made them.  I often hear practitioners say they cringe when they think back about the patients they saw in the first year because of the vastly greater knowledge they have now.  I do too. But my mistakes are more recent than that!

 I know more this week than I did last, and that is a good thing…right?!  For me and most practitioners, there is acknowledgement that our learning is infinite, ongoing, without end.  This is a source of excitement for me, not a negative.  The light-bulb moments are deeply satisfying – those moments when I become enlightened about a mistake I’ve been making, or a misunderstanding I have had.

Speaking of this, I have been fascinated by melatonin as a molecule and as a potential therapeutic for over 20 years now and my interest has been fostered by the growing research that sheds more light on this extraordinary hormone, chronobiotic, antioxidant, anti-oestrogen, gut health promoter etc. etc. etc!  As it turns out though, there were some key things I hadn’t understood.  In fact one of the common questions I was frequently asked and could never answer, was why some people who have tried melatonin fail to respond or in fact experience contradictory effects such as insomnia etc.  I now know this relates to its metabolism which dramatically impacts our understanding of therapeutic doses and the individualisation of these.  Aaaah (that’s a sigh of satisfaction)…there goes another light-bulb on!

If you want to know what on earth I am talking about check out this article, which was the gateway for me to whole bunch of other research and a whole new understanding about melatonin: who, when, how much.  Or you can listen in to my summary of that literature review by downloading the latest Update in Under 30 – Melatonin – Misunderstandings & Mistakes.

Happy light-bulbing 😉

Did you know that all of Rachel’s educational material can count towards your CPE points? Invest your time and money into something with a guaranteed return – stay up to date with current research and learn how to apply this information in your clinic on a daily basis. Check out more of Rachel’s dynamic educational material here.