In 2016, an article by Time revealed that Americans spend $30.2 billion on alternative medicine every year. 60 million Americans have spent money on some form of alternative medicine, explained the article, and 1% of all US spending on healthcare goes to these types of medicines.

This may seem like a small amount, but alternative medicines, which may be medicines that a person takes or an activity they participate in that is said to produce a positive effect on the body, are becoming much more popular. Families are spending hundreds of dollars on these treatments and it doesn’t seem like that will be stopping soon.

Alternative Medicines Are Easy to Access

Alternative medicines may be hugely popular because of how easy they are to acquire. Some alternative medicine practices, such as yoga, for example, can be performed easily in most cities as there are teachers and studios all over the country. There are over 6,000 yoga studios in the United States, meaning that people are rarely far from a yoga class.

Many alternative medicines can also be done in the home, without having to go to a class or a center. For example, sites like TheCircle provide services for those who enjoy speaking to psychics about their wellbeing, or like to have tarot readings performed to make predictions about their personal health. This form of unconventional ‘medicine’ is not a new revelation, however, as people have been seeking the divine guidance of psychics for centuries, with the 19th century seeing the birth of Modern Spiritualism, and the types of readings we are familiar with today.

Modern Society Provides us with New Options

Several years ago, finding out more information about alternative medicine would have been difficult, as you would have to partake in quite in-depth research and reading to fully understand what you would be participating in or putting in your body. Things have changed, however, and people can now find information about alternative medicines by searching online, where there is an abundance of information on herbal recipes, meditation tips, and holistic practices for you to try at home.

There are still useful books, but there are now plenty of online groups and YouTube videos which explain and illustrate in detail more niche alternative practices, and provide personalized and tailored information on what they can do for you, and where to find them. On ChannelPages, for example, it’s revealed that there are many alternative medicine and health channels, such as SunFruitDan and KenzooBeauty, who have garnered thousands of followers and continue to promote healthy lifestyles to a global network of followers.

It Can Be More Affordable

There are more ways to get alternative medicine and this has made it more affordable. So many sites have free shipping, explains BradsDeals, that it’s no longer incredibly expensive to get something delivered from halfway across the world, from crystals to spices. International shipping also allows people to buy these alternative medicines at a lower price, making these methods much more mainstream and less ‘exotic’ than they were once perceived to be, not ten years ago.