Healthy Life Newsletter, February 2025
A Note from Dr. Mha Atma
Stress! It’s part of life and our bodies and minds were made to handle it. But sometimes it can get overwhelming. Like lately: Fires and political turmoil along with all the other challenges that life brings us. We need to take good care of ourselves as well as we can. Along with the usual important aspects of eating a healthy diet, good exercise and good sleep, I encourage you to be kind to yourself and to others–our world needs as much kindness as it can get. Pay attention to what’s going on in the world around you, but moderate the time you spend watching, listening to, and reading the news. Stay connected to family and friends, and hug them liberally. Make time in your life for things that nourish you, which might include meditation, prayer, music, hobbies that you enjoy, and or anything else that renews your energy and spirit. Do what you can to make the world a better place, starting with your own life. And make a practice of counting your blessings every day. Remember we are all in this together, and look for opportunities to receive and give support.
Chronic Pain Can Wreck Your Life
But It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way
Chronic pain is pain that stays around, rather than going away after a short time (with or without treatment). Chronic pain is pain that lasts 3-6 months or longer…sometimes much longer. In fact, many people end up trying to “live” with their pain. The problem with chronic pain, besides the pain itself, is that it can do real damage to your quality of life for years – even decades.
Case in point: a new study that suggests people who experience chronic pain are more likely to experience poor general health, poor mental health outcomes and even joblessness years later. The study tracked pain patients from an average age of 44 through their 50s and 60s. Both short-term and chronic pain at age 44 predicted pain and poor health in later decades. Chronic pain in particular at age 44 was associated with pain (bodily pain and back pain) poor mental health (depression and general unhappiness), lower life satisfaction, poor sleep (fewer hours per night, more likely to be “troubled”) and joblessness at age 55. Findings appear in the research journal PLoS One.
In other words, chronic pain can wreck your life! But it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s where your doctor of chiropractic comes in. By evaluating and treating the root cause of your pain, your doctor can not only help avoid short-term pain from becoming chronic; he/she can also help prevent the pain from returning. In fact, you may prevent the pain from occurring in the first place if you receive consistent, preventive care from your doctor.
Limiting Screen Time
By Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h)
Growing up in the early ’60s, there were only a handful of live TV options. We enjoyed seven channels: three national and four regional. As kids, television was not our focus, but something to do when we were stuck in the house.
Our preference was always to play outside with the neighborhood kids. Saturday-morning cartoons kept us occupied until we were allowed to knock on our friends’ doors without waking their parents. We rode our bikes everywhere, utilizing the grade-school playground and the vacant field near the movie theater for most of our activities. In the summer, our parents let us stay out until the streetlights came on.
Needless to say, times have changed. Three recent studies speak to these changes:
Less Screen Time = Improved Children’s Psychological Health: The first study examined how reducing screen time by children and adolescents can improve mental health. The randomized clinical trial found “evidence for a causal link between a short-term reduction in screen media use during leisure and improvements in children’s and adolescents’ psychological symptoms.“1
More Screen Time = Outbursts = More Screen Time: The second study examined the use of tablets in early childhood. The authors make an interesting discovery: “(C)hild tablet use at age 3.5 years was associated with more expressions of anger and frustration by the age of 4.5 years. Child proneness to anger/frustration at age 4.5 years was then associated with more use of tablets by age 5.5 years.“2
Parental Inattention = Adolescent Anxiety, Hyperactivity & Inattention: The third study looked at how parental digital technology use can impact their relationship with their adolescent children. The study found that “higher levels of anxiety symptoms were associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference later in development. Higher levels of perceived parental technoference were associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms later in development.“3
The term technoference describes the persistent interruptions in our interpersonal communication and relationships caused by our constant need to pay attention to our tech devices, rather than the people/children we are with. There is almost a 100% likelihood that your parent patients are dealing with this issue poorly. They don’t know what they don’t know, so tablet/screen placation is the path of least resistance as they navigate their all-too-busy lives.
If you seek medical/psychiatric advice for your children, there’s a good chance it will result in prescriptions. Please familiarize yourself with these three studies. This is your opportunity to be aware of what’s happening and adopt a more powerful (and risk free) solution: non-screen quality time with your children.
References
Schmidt-Persson J, et al. Screen media use and mental health of children and adolescents: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open, 2024;7(7):e2419881.
Fitzpatrick C, et al. Early-childhood tablet use and outbursts of anger. JAMA Pediatr, 2024 Oct 1;178(10):1035-1040.
Deneault A, et al. Perceived parental distraction by technology and mental health among emerging adolescents. JAMA Netw Open, 2024;7(8):e2428261.
What’s the Best Weight-Loss and Disease-Prevention Diet?
Written by Michael Greger M.D. FACLM
The most effective diet for weight loss may also be the most healthful.
Why are vegetarian diets so effective in preventing and treating diabetes? Maybe it is because of the weight loss. As I discuss in my video The Best Diet for Weight Loss and Disease Prevention, those eating more plant-based tend to be significantly slimmer. That isn’t based on looking at a cross-section of the population either. You can perform an interventional trial and put it to the test in a randomized, controlled community-based trial of a whole food, plant-based diet.
“The key difference between this trial [of plant-based nutrition] and other approaches to weight loss was that participants were informed to eat the WFPB [whole food, plant-based] diet ad libitum and to focus efforts on diet, rather than increasing exercise.” Ad libitum means they could eat as much as they want; there was no calorie counting or portion control. They just ate. It was about improving the quality of the food rather than restricting the quantity of food. In the study, the researchers had participants focus just on a diet rather than exercising more exercise because they wanted to isolate the effects of eating more healthfully.
So, what happened? At the start of the study, the participants were, on average, obese at nearly 210 pounds (95 kg) with an average height of about 5’5” (165 cm). Three months into the trial, they were down about 18 pounds (8 kg)—without portion restrictions and eating all the healthy foods they wanted. At six months in, they were closer to 26 pounds (12 kg) lighter. You know how these weight-loss trials usually go, though. However, this wasn’t an institutional study where the participants were locked up and fed. In this trial, no meals were provided. The researchers just informed them about the benefits of plant-based eating and encouraged them to eat that way on their own, with their own families, and in their own homes, in their own communities. What you typically see in these “free-living” studies is weight loss at six months, with the weight creeping back or even getting worse by the end of a year. But, in this study, the participants were able to maintain that weight loss all year,
What’s more, their cholesterol got better, too, but the claim to fame is that they “achieved greater weight loss at 6 and 12 months than any other trial that does not limit energy [caloric] intake or mandate regular exercise.” That’s worth repeating. A whole food, plant-based diet achieved the greatest weight loss ever recorded at 6 and 12 months compared to any other such intervention published in the medical literature. Now, obviously, with very low-calorie starvation diets, you can drop down to any weight. “However, medically supervised liquid ‘meal replacements’ are not intended for ongoing use”—obviously, they’re just short-term fixes—“and are associated with ‘high costs, high attrition rates, and a high probability of regaining 50% or more of lost weight in 1 to 2 years.’” In contrast, the whole point of whole food, plant-based nutrition is to maximize long-term health and longevity.
To read the rest of this article go to nutritionfacts.org
An Avocado a Day
A medium-sized avocado contains more than 300 calories and nearly 30 grams of fat; so why could it possibly be a good food to eat if you’re a woman trying to lose weight and improve your health? Here’s why.
First, keep in mind that an avocado may be relatively high in calories and fat, but most of the calories come from the fat, and that fat is the “healthy” kind, if that makes sense. Avocados are also low in carbs (only about 17 per whole avocado), high in fiber (approximately 14 grams per avocado) and packed with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. From a weight-loss perspective, that’s not such a bad thing.
Second, new research suggests overweight / obese women who eat an avocado a day for 12 weeks can reduce their visceral abdominal fat – the most dangerous type because it’s hard to target and situated near / around the organs – and also reduce the visceral:subcutaneous fat ratio. (Subcutaneous fat is located under the skin and considered less dangerous / easier to shed than visceral fat. People with a higher ratio are also at greater risk for type 2 diabetes.)
In the study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, researchers divided women into two groups for comparison. Both groups received one meal per day as part of the 12-week study, with one group’s meal including an avocado, while the other group’s meal did not. Meals were essentially equivalent in terms of calories and ingredients except for the inclusion or omission of avocado, suggesting this simple, powerful fruit (yes, avocado is technically a fruit since it fits all the criteria for being a berry) can help overweight / obese women get back on track toward better health and wellness. And of course, for women already at a healthy weight, avocado is an essential element of a balanced diet for all the nutritional reasons discussed above.
Time to Step Up
Let’s face it: Not everyone wants to hit the weight room, treadmill or elliptical in the all-mighty quest to optimize health. Reality #2: Not everyone is physically able to do those things, depending on pre-existing conditions, age, etc.
Enter the power of good-old-fashioned walking, which research suggests not only helps maintain fitness, but also reduces depression symptoms.
“Higher daily step counts were associated with fewer depressive symptoms in the general adult population,” concludes a new study, with step counts ranging from 5,000 or more in some studies to 7,000 or more in others. In other words, depending on the study, adults who achieved 5,000 or higher daily step counts (compared to fewer than 5,000) had a reduced risk of experiencing symptoms of depression; and adults who achieved 7,000 or higher step counts (compared to fewer than 7,000) also had a reduced risk.
Daily step counts were recorded using accelerometers or pedometers – which are common these days on smartphones and other devices. That means it’s easy to monitor your daily step count – and according to this research analysis, every step you take won’t just improve your physical health; it will also improve your mental health by reducing your risk of depression.
This isn’t the first – and certainly won’t be the last – study on the importance of daily steps in health and wellness. In fact, we’ve published dozens of such studies in the past several years. So if you’re not doing it already, it’s time to step up!
5 Ways to Live a Decade Longer
Taking care of your health can seem complicated sometimes, but it’s really not. Pursue healthy habits, and you’ll increase your risk of enjoying a longer, more productive life. Pursue unhealthy habits, and well – your number could be up sooner than you want it to be.
Here’s how simple it is: A mere five healthy habits can help you live more than a decade longer, suggests a study in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. All five of these habits are associated with a reduced risk of suffering from one of the two most prevalent health risks today: cancer and cardiovascular disease. Here they are:
Never smoking
Maintaining a healthy body-mass index
Doing moderate to vigorous exercise
Drinking alcohol only in moderation
Eating a healthy diet
How important are these five healthy habits? According to the study, people who adhere to all five lifestyle factors at age 50 have an additional 14 years of life expectancy if you’re a woman, and more than 12 additional years of life expectancy if you’re a man, compared to people who adhere to none of the five factors.
Take a look at the five factors again. Are they worth an extra decade-plus of living? Ask your friends, family and loved ones if they want you around an extra 12 years or more. (No, this isn’t a trick question.) Now talk to your doctor about your health status, how many of the five habits you’re currently engaging in, and what you can do to ensure you’re not doing zero (gasp), one, two, three or four – but all five.
Magnesium (Again)
Magnesium is an essential mineral needed for hundreds of bodily functions. Magnesium must be consumed regularly in order to prevent deficiency, which can result in symptoms such as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. When deficiency becomes more severe, it may result in symptoms such as numbness, tingling, muscle contractions and cramps, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms.
A review published by Souza et al. titled The Integral Role of Magnesium in Muscle Integrity and Aging: A Comprehensive Review lists in detail many of the direct ways that magnesium is utilized to produce specific effects in key areas of our health and wellbeing. The color wheel below breaks these pivotal roles of magnesium down into the following categories:
Metabolic health
Cardiovascular health
Insulin-glucose metabolism
Respiratory health
Immune response
Energy metabolism
Sensory
Hearing
Vision
Psychological
Mental health
Sleep
Cognitive
Learning
Neuronal activity
Memory
Locomotion
Joint health
Muscle health
Bone health
Vitality
to read the rest of this article go to grassrootshealth.net
Are We There Yet?
by Bill Esteb
I’ll be happy when _______.
Fill in the blank: paying off student loans, reaching a statistical goal, getting the kids out of the house, retiring, or something else.
The idea that something in the future holds the key to happiness rests on an unhelpful assumption: Happiness is a destination—a place, a circumstance, something “out there” in the future.
But there’s no such place.
Seduced by this belief, we often turn our lives into a relentless pursuit, our head down, bulldozing our way into the future.
Are we there yet?
Whatever your goal, I’m sure it’s worthwhile. But achieving it won’t produce lasting happiness (emotional) or joy (spiritual). Nor will easing off the gas afterward, coasting, and enjoying the fruits of our so-called “success.”
The true payoff isn’t in the arrival. It’s in the journey itself and the growth it demands of us to become the best version of ourselves.