Healthy Life Newsletter, June 2018
The Secret to Living Longer: 5 Habits
We can’t live forever, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy as long and healthy a life as possible. What if you could extend your life by more than a decade merely by adopting a few healthy lifestyle habits? You can, according to research published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, which found people who adopted five healthy habits lived significantly longer than people who adopted none.
The study evaluated longevity using a database of more than 120,000 men and women, calculating that a 50-year-old man who adopted all five habits would live 12 years longer than a similarly aged man who adopted none of the habits, while a 50-year-old woman would live 14 extra years.
The Good News
So, what are the five healthy habits? They’re not brain teasers, and they’re certainly not beyond your reach:
\1. Eating a healthy diet
\2. Not smoking
\3. Exercising consistently
\4. Drinking alcohol in moderation
\5. Maintaining a normal weight
Easy, right? Not so fast.
The Bad News
According to the researchers, less than 2 percent of the study participants were engaging in all five healthy habits, and a third of participants were engaging in two or fewer. If we extrapolate that to the general population, that means – as you might have realized before you started reading this article – too many people are dying far younger than they should be.
But let’s end with a little more good news. Take a look at the five healthy habits again. Impossible? We don’t think so. If you’re currently a member of the “none” club, dedicate yourself to adopting one or more of these habits in 2018, and then continue the trend in 2019, and so on. If you’re somewhere in the middle (2-3), try to get to five by year’s end. Whatever your starting point, once you’ve achieved all five, you’ll not only feel much better about yourself; you’ll also be in an ideal position to live a long, healthy life. And who doesn’t want that? Talk to your doctor for more information.
Healthy Is Happy: The Power of Exercise
“Happiness does not come from doing easy work, but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best effort.” — Theodore Isaac Rubin, American psychologist and author
When you’re unhappy, exercise may be the furthest thing from your mind. For many people, exercise takes a major back seat to a melancholy song or movie, a gallon of ice cream or a darkened bedroom where you can wallow in your discontent. But research suggests exercise is actually a great choice to
Working out for a mere 10 minutes a day or one day a week boosts happiness compared to not exercising, suggests a new review study in the appropriately named Journal of Happiness Studies. Exercise was strongly linked to happiness, and the connection existed regardless of age, type of exercise performed and other variables. Simply put, people who exercised reported being happier than people who didn’t.
So remember, the next time you’re down in the dumps, don’t avoid exercise; embrace it. Walk, jog, hit the gym; practice yoga … whatever makes you happy! Talk to your doctor for more information and to help outline an exercise program specific to your health needs and fitness goals.
Lower Sugar = Lower Blood Pressure
Sounds pretty simple, right? Except in a society overwhelmed by processed foods loaded with added sugar, keeping your sugar (or blood pressure) in check can be a major challenge.
But let’s leave the topic of limiting sugar consumption from all sources for another day, and instead focus on sugar from a single source: sugar-sweetened beverages. According to a study published in the June 2010 issue of Circulation (a journal of the American Heart Association), a reduction in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption of one serving per day reduced systolic blood pressure in adults by 1.8 mg Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 1.1 mg Hg over 18 months. (If your blood pressure is 120-75, for example, your systolic blood pressure is 120 and your diastolic blood pressure is 75.) Diet beverage consumption and caffeine intake did not appear to be associated with blood pressure.
Not much of a reduction, you say? Tell that to someone with high blood pressure who’s desperately trying to get their BP into the safe range and doesn’t want to rely on medication to do it. Even a small reduction, particularly if all they have to do is drink less sugar-sweetened beverages, can make a big difference. In fact, it might save their life. Your doctor can tell you more - much more- about the considerable dangers of sugar and high blood pressure.
Don’t Forget About Chiropractic
Think a visit to your medical doctor will be just as effective as going to a doctor of chiropractic when you’re suffering from low back pain? Hmmm. Your medical doctor will likely recommend over-the-counter pain medication or even prescribe something for the pain. (The latter is a primary reason for the opioid crisis that still accounts for countless deaths every day due to abuse / overuse.) On the other hand, a chiropractor will determine the cause of the pain – not mask it with pain relievers – and use safe, effective spinal adjustments and other nondrug, nonsurgical tools to address the problem and help ensure it doesn’t return.
OK, so you’re still not convinced. Perhaps standard medical care for your low back pain is your preference. But don’t forget about chiropractic, because research suggests even people who receive medical treatment for their LBP benefit more from concurrent chiropractic care than those who receive medical care only.
Case in point: a study published in the American Medical Association’s open-access journal, JAMA Network Open, that evaluated strategies for the management of low back pain in active-duty military personnel. “Usual medical care” included self-care, medication, physical therapy and referral to a pain clinic. Chiropractic care included spinal manipulation to the low back and adjacent areas of the body, as well as therapies such as rehabilitative exercise, cryotherapy (ice), superficial heat and other manual therapies.
When added to medical care, chiropractic care resulted in moderate improvements in patients’ pain and their disability caused by the pain. In other words, they hurt less and were able to function better compared to patients who received medical care only. Now that’s a win-win, no doubt about it.
Read article below on line with links
Even Modest Lifestyle Changes in Middle Age May Significantly Extend Your Life By Michael Greger M.D.
In How to Reduce the Risk of Sudden Death, I discuss how public health workers tend to work in their own separate domains. The tobacco folks rarely talk to the alcohol, nutrition, or sexual health folks, “with no apparent recognition that, far from being unique and separate, the behaviours they all address comprise a typical Saturday night out for large sectors of the population. This also blinds us to the importance of individual empowerment. We beetle away at micromanaging specific behaviours and ignore the key message emerging from the public health evidence base—that for the first time in human history we now know how we can take a measure of control over our own health and longevity.”
So much control, as addressed in my video Turning the Clock Back 14 Years, that we may be able to effectively turn back the clock 14 years in terms of mortality. But whether the benefits observed in those studies are the result of good, life-long health habits or can be achieved by those who make changes later in life needed to be confirmed.
And it was. “People who newly adopt a healthy lifestyle in middle-age experience a prompt benefit of lower rates of cardiovascular disease and mortality.” Researchers found that a switch in mid-life—that is, in our late 40s to early 60s—to a healthy lifestyle that includes at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, exercise, and not smoking results in a substantial reduction in mortality over just the next four years. This is surprising not only because the benefit appeared so quickly but also because the lifestyle changes were so modest. The findings emphasize that making the necessary lifestyle changes is extremely worthwhile, and it’s never too late to get with the program.
If we can get such dramatic benefits so late in life and in such a short amount of time, why can’t we just live lives of gluttony and sloth, and then just clean up our acts around 50 or so? Because it may be too late: Our first symptom can sometimes be our last.
Sudden cardiac death accounts for more than half of all heart disease deaths. Hundreds of thousands of Americans just drop dead every year. Sudden cardiac death is the first manifestation of heart disease for the majority of individuals, particularly among women, meaning they had no idea they even had heart disease until they were literally dying from it. For many, their first indication of the presence of coronary heart disease is their demise. That’s why prevention is the key.
So, does prevention work? Women who don’t smoke, walk a half-hour a day, aren’t overweight, and eat a prudent diet—defined in the study as greater than average fruit, vegetable, nut, whole grain, and bean consumption—had a 92% lower risk of sudden cardiac death. When it comes to sudden death, an ounce of prevention is truly worth more than a pound of cure, because there is no cure for dead.
Why Your Doctor Is Wrong About Vitamin D
By Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
You probably think following your doctor’s advice is the right thing to do. But when it comes to the importance of vitamin D, I’m shocked at how wrong most doctors seem to be. Time and time again I see patients whose conventional practitioner isn’t even aware of how much vitamin D is needed to get optimal benefits. This leaves them exposed to serious risks associated with too little vitamin D. In fact, it can be a critical factor in the condition that led them to me.
I find this lack of knowledge especially alarming when you look at the explosion of new research about the vital role of vitamin D in our health. Much of it connects low levels of D to the development of extremely serious health problems — cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia and more.
What’s going on when your doctor is so wrong about something that’s absolutely crucial for your good health? Here’s what I tell my patients.
Two Big Problems with What Your Doctor May Be Telling You
I see two major problems when it comes to what the “right amount” of vitamin D means for most doctors looking at things from the conventional medicine perspective.
\1. Looking at the wrong vitamin D blood level range . The measurement that conventional medicine practitioners use as the “normal” range for the results of a vitamin D blood level test is too low. Way too low.
The latest scientific research shows the optimal range for health is 50-60 ng/mL blood level of vitamin D. But compare that to the “normal” reference range — anywhere above 20-100 ng/mL — used by conventional medical practitioners. The truth is anything less than 32 ng/mL can seriously limit your ability to absorb calcium and lead to bone loss, among other dangers.
\2. Recommending the wrong amount of vitamin D needed daily . Vitamin D expert Dr. Robert Heaney reports that in order to reach his target 40-60 ng/ml vitamin D blood level, the average person needs to supplement with 4,000-5,000 IU a day. And I completely agree!
However, many practitioners follow the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation of just 600 IU/day for people up to the age of 70, and only 800 IU/day for after that. According to researchers in the journal Nutrients, those skimpy recommendations can underestimate the actual need by an incredible factor of 10!
The sad truth is that most conventional medical practitioners don’t get nearly enough training about nutrition. Given all we know about the positive effects of supplements and what we eat, not thinking enough about nutrition is not only out of date, it is also harmful!
Are You at a Higher Risk of Vitamin D Deficiency?
You live above 35° latitude (north of Atlanta). You may only get enough UV radiation from the sun to produce vitamin D in your skin between May and October in the Northern Hemisphere. To check if you’re able to produce vitamin D from sunlight, look at your shadow. If your shadow is shorter than you are, then you can to produce vitamin D from this sunlight. If your shadow is longer than you are, you’re not being exposed to that small spectrum ultraviolet radiation that allows for vitamin D production.
You avoid the sun or use SPF 15 or higher sunblock
You have dark skin
You are elderly
You are overweight/obese
You are a teen who spends little time outdoors.
Signs of Vitamin D Deficiency
Muscle pain
Bone pain
Low energy and fatigue
Lowered immunity
Depression and mood swings
Irregular sleep
Benefits of Vitamin D
New research about the benefits of vitamin D is extremely compelling. When you get the right amount of vitamin D — remember that’s a blood level of 50-60 ng/mL — on a daily basis, it can lead to some astounding results, including:
Less risk of hip fracture. Almost everyone who suffers from a low-trauma hip fracture has inadequate vitamin D levels. In fact, one UK study found that 95% of those suffering hip fractures were deficient in vitamin D. I believe that low vitamin D is a major — and maybe even the most important — risk factor for hip fracture.
Improved heart health. Vitamin D helps maintain healthy blood pressure, suppress artery-damaging inflammation and protect the vessels from calcification. As a result, vitamin D deficiency is inversely associated with heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure and heart disease deaths. Pretty impressive when you consider that heart disease is our #1 cause of death!
Cancer protection. Vitamin D is an excellent modulator of immune function, helping to protect you from infection and at least 16 types of cancer.
Diabetes prevention. Vitamin D helps prevent diabetes by enhancing insulin output and insulin sensitivity. People with low levels of vitamin D have poorly functioning insulin-producing cells and an inadequate response to insulin, even when their blood sugar levels are normal.
Your Next Step
Congratulations! You may now know more about vitamin D than many health professionals who just don’t get the training they need to about how supplements and nutrition can make a dramatic impact on your health.
Your next step is to make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D by asking your doctor for the simple “25(OH)D” vitamin D blood test. This inexpensive test determines your vitamin D level and defines your need for supplemental vitamin D.
Once you know your numbers, you can talk to your doctor about the appropriate level of vitamin D supplementation in the form of D3.