Healthy Life Newsletter, February 2023
Headache Got You Down? Try Chiropractic
Anyone who’s experienced a headache (an estimated 90 percent of Americans) knows it can be a real downer, to say the least. Depending on the type, how long it lasts and the severity, a headache can complicate your day or ruin it altogether. Too many people take over-the-counter pain-relief medication for their headaches, and too few make an appointment to a doctor of chiropractic.
How can chiropractic help? According to the American Chiropractic Association, a national association for chiropractors, primary headaches are frequently associated with muscle tension in the neck. That means chiropractic spinal manipulation that helps relieve neck pain and tension can also relieve headache pain. Chiropractors can also provide advice on posture, which can often cause the neck pain / tension and thus contribute to your headaches.
In a recent case study reported in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, a female schoolteacher “experienced long-term relief from tension-type headache (TTH) and major depression following chiropractic treatment.” (Depression is a potential consequence of long-term pain.) The woman, who had been experiencing “disabling” daily headaches of varying intensity for two years, received chiropractic spinal manipulation to spastic lower neck and upper back muscles, along with other nondrug treatments commonly performed by chiropractors, for several months. The woman eventually eliminated all use of pain medication and has now been headache-free for more than six years.
Here are some other natural ways your chiropractor may help you prevent headaches and reduce headache-related pain, per the ACA. Discuss them on your next visit:
Take breaks and stretch your head / neck through a comfortable range of motion throughout the day, especially if you have a desk job that keeps you in a fixed position.
Perform low-impact exercise such as walking an low-impact aerobics to help relieve headache pain.
Avoid teeth clenching, which can stress the temporomandibular joints (TMJ), which connect your jaw to your skull and can lead to headaches.
Drink adequate water every day to help avoid dehydration, which has been associated with headaches.
Reduce your intake of inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined grains, and processed foods containing vegetable oils and/or trans-fats (“partially hydrogenated” oils).
Take a magnesium supplement (200 to 600 mg/day).
To learn about the different types of headaches and the symptoms you might experience if you suffer one, go to webmd.com.
3 Minutes a Day
If you struggle to find time and/or inspiration to reach your daily, weekly – and plain old anytime – physical activity goals, listen up: It doesn’t have to take as much time and effort as you think to make a big difference.
The difference we’re talking about: living longer and healthier. The time and effort required: as few as three minutes a day.
New research suggests short bursts of activity throughout the day matter; in fact, as few as three minutes daily can reduce mortality risk by a whopping 40 percent, even if that’s the extent of your physical exertion. Researchers tracked 25,000+ adults (average age: 62 years at the start of the study) for approximately seven years, using wearable sensors to assess how “brief bursts of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity” correlated with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality. All participants were classified as “non-exercisers,” meaning they did not get any leisure-time physical activity outside of the short bursts (three 1-2 minute bouts daily) dictated by the study.
Compared with people who did not participate in any activity bursts, those who did (average time spent daily: 4.4 minutes) reduced their risk of all-cause and cancer mortality risk by 38-40 percent, with a 48-49 percent reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality risk. Findings appear in Nature Medicine. A separate sample of “exercisers” achieved similar results in terms of mortality / disease risk, suggesting the benefits apply to everyone, regardless of their physical activity habits.
It’s important to point out that study participants’ activity wasn’t what you might think (and dread doing yourself), such as slaving away on a treadmill or hitting the gym to lift weights. They performed “brief bursts of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity” – things like walking fast from the parking lot to work; or jogging up stairs instead of just walking. Talk to your doctor for more ways you can incorporate physical activity into your day – as few as three minutes – and reap the profound health benefits.
The Perils of Procrastination
Who among us hasn’t been guilty of procrastination – in simplest terms, the act of putting things off, even though we know there could or will be negative consequences? The problem, of course, is those negative consequences, which seem to pop up everywhere: from failing a test in school (because you kept putting off studying); to missing the big meeting at work (because you kept putting off getting out of bed); to having to pay dramatically more for something (because you kept putting off buying it, even when it was on sale); to missing a family member’s last words (because you waited too long to visit them in the hospital).
The perils of procrastination go even further; they can negatively impact your health, according to research that gathered data every three months for nine months to determine how procrastination impacted health outcomes. Study participants self-reported procrastination, using a 1-5 scale (1= “very rarely or does not represent me”; 5 = “very often or always represents me”) to assess their procrastination. After nine months, researchers gathered data on 16 self-reported health outcomes and evaluated how participants’ procrastination scores correlated with their health.
Participants with higher procrastination scores also had a higher likelihood of poor health outcomes after nine months, including symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress; disabling pain (neck, upper back, lower back, upper extremities and/or lower extremities); unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (poor sleep, physical inactivity); and loneliness. The higher the score, the greater risk of experiencing one or more of these health issues.
Even after the researchers accounted for potential variables that could also affect health (including previous physical and mental health diagnoses), the increased health risk associated with procrastination remained.
While this study, published in JAMA Network Open, involved young adults (university undergraduate and graduate students in Sweden; average age: 24.8 years), we all know procrastination can strike anyone, at any age, at any time. For tips on how to defeat procrastination – and in so doing, ward off the health perils associated with it, check out forbes.com .
A Cause of Hair Loss?
While both men and women can experience hair loss, in women, it’s generally more diffuse (thinning hair), while men are much more likely to suffer partial or total baldness (male-pattern hair loss).
As a result, many men in particular live life with the constant fear of hair loss – or the constant distress once they start losing their hair.
Men, listen up: losing your hair may be an inevitability, but research suggests this dietary habit may make it more likely – drinking sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). And it doesn’t take much: a mere one soda or sugary drink per day may be too much. Among more than 1,000 men ages 18-45, men who reported drinking up to one sugary drink (any of 15 different beverages including soda, sugar-sweetened juice, energy drinks, sport drinks, sweetened coffee or sweetened tea) per day were 30 percent more likely to report hair loss. Men who drank more than one sweetened beverage daily were even more likely to report hair loss: 42 percent more likely compared to men who never drank sugar-sweetened beverages.
Writing on their findings in the journal Nutrients, researchers note: “Emphasizing that SSB consumption could have a potential negative effect on one’s appearance could catch the attention of the young population and promote a reduction in SSB intake.” If you can’t seem to break the habit of drinking sugar-sweetened beverages, talk to your doctor, who will gladly share with you some of the other possible health consequences, including a higher risk of weight gain / obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and tooth decay.
Statins Weaken Your Bones
Statin medication (brand names: Lipitor, Crestor, Altoprev, Livalo, etc.) is designed to reduce cholesterol by blocking the key enzyme the body uses to make cholesterol, particularly low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol; while also removing (reabsorbing) existing LDL from the bloodstream. Doing so can reduce the risk of heart disease and its often-fatal consequences: a heart attack or stroke.
Unfortunately, as is too often the case with medication, statins help one thing, but harm another – they improve your cholesterol profile at the expense of bone health. Using a mouse model, researchers compared high-dose statins vs. no statins with regard to osteoporosis risk. High-dose, long-term (one year) statin use increased osteoporosis risk significantly compared to non-use of statins.
Osteoporosis, a bone disease characterized by low bone density / strength, increases the risk of bone fractures, particularly of the hip or spine, which can compromise mobility and function. In other words, it’s bad news at any age.
This study, published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy , should make you ask your doctor three questions at your next visit if you have high cholesterol or are at risk for it:
What’s my cholesterol profile? Your total cholesterol score is far less significant from a health perspective than your LDL:HDL (high-density lipoprotein or “good”) cholesterol ratio. You don’t need statins just because you have high total cholesterol.)
What can I do to lower my LDL cholesterol and/or reduce my risk of high cholesterol without medication? (Exercise and dietary changes are the big ones.)
If I absolutely need to take a statin, what’s the smallest dose and shortest amount of time I need to take it? The quicker you can get off statins (or any medication), the quicker you reduce your risk of suffering an adverse effect associated with all medications – in the case of statins, increased risk of osteoporosis, among other potential problems.
The bottom line: High cholesterol, particularly high LDL, is a health risk – but so is taking statin medication, something an estimated 200 million do worldwide according to Johns Hopkins. Talk to your doctor about how to stay healthy and safe naturally and avoid the need for statins. Your bones will thank you for it.
Hydration & Healthy Aging
Adequate hydration is essential to life. You can technically live without food for several months, but without water, you’ll die in about a week (and start declining well before then). Even if you’re hydrated, if you’re not consistently getting enough of the right liquids (namely water) in your system, your health will suffer.
In fact, research suggests that for older adults, healthy aging is next to impossible without proper hydration.
The problem in today’s society is that hydration, which used to be accomplished almost exclusively with H2O, has been replaced with a variety of other liquids that don’t deliver what the human body needs. You might drink plenty of liquids throughout the day, but if it’s primarily in the form of soda, energy drinks and added-sugar fruit juices, your hydration needs aren’t being met.
Research findings published in eBiomedicine suggest fluid intake – as indicated by serum sodium levels, which increase as fluid intake declines, and vice versa – is a strong predictor of healthy aging. Researchers analyzed health data from 11,000 middle-aged adults, collected over a 30-year period as part of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Adults with high serum sodium levels (high end of normal range) were more likely to develop chronic diseases, including heart failure, stroke, chronic lung disease, diabetes and dementia); age biologically compared to their chronological age; and die prematurely compared to adequately hydrated adults.
What’s adequate hydration? From the study’s perspective, adults with serum sodium levels above 152 mEq/L were the most likely to develop chronic diseases, while adults with levels between 138-140 mEq/L were the least likely. From a real-world perspective, the National Academies of Medicine recommends drinking 6-9 cups (8-oz. per cup) of fluids daily if you’re a woman, and 8-12 cup daily if you’re a man. “Fluids” means water or a liquid with high water content. Your activity level / exercise habits and other variables may increase your hydration needs.
Protocol for Staying Healthy by Promoting a Strong Immune System
Vitamin D: Learn what supplement amount is needed to achieve and maintain a vitamin D level of 40-60 ng/ml (100-150 nmol/L). Measure your level today, and use the vitamin D*calculator to determine what supplement amount might be needed to reach your target level. (5,000 IU/day is a good dose for many folks, but optimum dose can range from 2,000 to 10,000/day.)
Vitamin A (as retinol): 2,000 to 4,000 IU per day for all elderly, adults and adolescents
Vitamin C: 1,000 to 3,000 mg per day, in divided doses, along with a quercetin supplement
Selenium: 100-200 ug per day for elderly, adult, and adolescents, with a suggested serum level of 130-150 ug/L (measure your selenium level as part of the Elements Panel test kit)
Zinc: 10-20 mg per day
Additional supplements to support vitamin D and overall immunity:
Magnesium: 400 mg per day on average
Vitamin K: suggested intake of between 180-200 mcg MK7 (a form of vitamin K2) per day from diet and supplements
(Go to the link at the top of this article for much more detail as well as links go published studies.)