Healthy Life Newsletter, April 2025
A Note from Dr. Mha Atma
Sometimes we (me and you) get overwhelmed with the stresses in our own lives and in the world around us. And then we might forget to count our blessings. Our first piece below (after our outstanding Patient of the Month) is about the documented health effects of gratitude and some ways to tap into them. While I hope you can find the bandwidth to read this whole newsletter, I encourage you to at least read that first segment!
Patient of the Month: Bey (Brandon) Michael Koch
I first sought chiropractic care at Khalsa Chiropractic due to constant pain and misalignment caused by an altercation where I was attacked. My pain was concentrated in my shoulders, neck, and back, particularly in my spine, and I had been dealing with it for six months. On a scale of 1 to 10, my pain level was at a 7.
Before coming to Khalsa Chiropractic, I had seen my general physician, an acupuncturist, and multiple massage therapists. I underwent X-rays and tried multiple treatments, including physical therapy, but found only minimal relief. I also took medication for the pain, but it did not help.
I decided to return to chiropractic care because I had experienced success with it in the past. I was immediately drawn to the inviting atmosphere at Khalsa Chiropractic, and I could sense that Dr. Mha Atma truly cares about helping his patients heal. The small touches, like offering tea, made the experience even more welcoming.
Dr. Mha Atma recommended a personalized treatment plan, including chiropractic adjustments three times per week, at-home exercises to strengthen my back, herbal topicals for symptom relief, and massage therapy. I tried the in-house massage therapy and had an amazing experience.
The results have been life-changing. When I first arrived, I was in so much pain that I felt hopeless about ever finding lasting relief. Now, six months later, not only have I healed from my injuries, but I feel better than I did even before the incident. My mobility has greatly improved, the pain in my spine is completely gone, and my overall quality of life has increased tremendously. I no longer spend all my energy managing pain—I sleep better, move more easily, and feel like myself again.
I was so impressed with my experience that I introduced my partner to Khalsa Chiropractic, and he has also had great results. I firmly believe that chiropractic care is essential—not just for relief in the moment, but for long-term health and well-being. It’s an investment in feeling better for years to come.
I am incredibly grateful for the knowledge, expertise, and care that Dr. Mha Atma and the entire team provide. Thank you for everything you do!
The following is an excerpt. Read the whole article at hartmannreport.com
The Radical Power of Gratitude to Rewire Your Brain and Life
Science proves that daily appreciation can dismantle stress, amplify joy, and create lasting mental wealth…
by Thom Hartmann
Brain imaging studies have captured the process of counting your blessings in action. When people express gratitude, they activate the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s command center for decision-making and emotional regulation.
This triggers a cascade of beneficial effects, including sharper attention and increased motivation. Think of it like building a muscle — the more you exercise gratitude, the stronger these neural pathways become, making it progressively easier to access positive emotions.
Perhaps even more remarkable is gratitude’s effect on stress. When you focus on appreciation, your brain actually dials down the production of cortisol, your body’s primary stress hormone. This helps explain why grateful people often seem more resilient in the face of life’s challenges — their brains are literally wired to handle stress better.
But the benefits don’t stop there.
Research conducted at Indiana University found that practicing gratitude can actually change the structure of your brain, particularly in areas linked to empathy and emotional processing.
It’s as if giving thanks regularly renovates your brain’s emotional architecture, creating lasting improvements in how you process experiences and relate to others.
These changes ripple out into nearly every aspect of life. People who practice gratitude regularly report sleeping better, probably because they’re replacing anxious thoughts with appreciative ones before bedtime.
They tend to have stronger relationships, likely because gratitude activates brain regions involved in social bonding and empathy. Many even report improvements in their ability to solve problems and think creatively, suggesting that a thankful mind is also a more flexible one.
Want to Harness These Benefits for Yourself?
Science suggests several effective approaches. Keeping a gratitude journal helps reinforce positive neural pathways, training your brain to focus on the good in your life. Expressing appreciation to others not only strengthens your relationships but also activates reward centers in your brain.
Even simply pausing throughout the day — my favorite practice — to notice and appreciate positive moments can help reshape your neural circuitry.
The most encouraging aspect of this research is that gratitude’s effects appear to be cumulative and long-lasting. Studies have found that people who regularly practice gratitude experience positive changes in brain function that persist months after they begin the practice. It’s like compound interest for your emotional well-being — small investments in gratitude today can yield increasing returns over time.
As your brain becomes more adept at recognizing and appreciating positive experiences, you may find yourself naturally adopting a more optimistic outlook on life. This isn’t about ignoring life’s challenges or pretending everything is perfect. Rather, it’s about training your brain to maintain a sense of appreciation even while acknowledging difficulties.
Tackle Back Pain Early
Are you ignoring your low back pain (LBP) – or masking the pain temporarily with over-the-counter pain medication? That’s two mistakes that can lead to chronic LBP – pain that lasts more than a few months and is tough to resolve.
In fact, according to new research, once your back pain becomes chronic, your chances of getting rid of it are much lower, which makes early intervention / prevention – for example, with chiropractic care – a great choice, whether you’re experiencing LBP or want to reduce your risk of experiencing it.
An international research team reviewed nearly 100 studies that investigated low back pain of various durations, including chronic LBP (pain lasting 12-52 weeks). People with persistent low back pain continued to experience moderate to high levels of pain and disability, with minimal improvement over time, compared to people with LBP that lasted for shorter time frames. On the other hand, people with LBP of shorter duration (“acute” pain, lasting less than six weeks) were more likely to recover quicker and more completely.
The takeaway is clear: Tackle your back pain early! That means two things: going to your chiropractor whenever you experience low back pain; and visiting your chiropractor periodically, even when you’re not in pain, so you can prevent pain from starting in the first place. Now that’s a win-win for your health and wellness.
Raise Your Hand If You Have Back Pain
As adults, we get used to a variety of daily or near-daily aches and pains, particularly as we age. But what about our children? Don’t they seem immune to many, if not all, of the pain complaints we have – despite the fact that for the most part, they’re exponentially more active?
Maybe not. A study of schoolchildren ages 12-15 revealed a startling statistic: More than half (57 percent) reported experiencing back pain in the past year. As you might expect, “remaining seated at school” was a primary pain trigger, particularly for back pain lasting up to seven days.
These findings not only point to the universality of back pain – and the need for it to be addressed by qualified health care professionals such as doctors of chiropractic; but also the need to recognize and avoid situations that may increase the risk of experiencing an episode of back pain.
For example, evidence implicates ergonomic flaws both in the school and workplace (desk / chair height, etc.) in back pain, not to mention carpal tunnel syndrome, neck pain and other conditions. What’s more, the act of sitting alone creates undue stress on the spinal column and encourages poor posture whether at school, work or home, a major initiator of back pain and related conditions.
If anyone in your family is suffering from back pain, do something about it. Talk to your doctor about the potential causes and solutions.
Take a Stand Against Sitting
Increasing evidence suggests prolonged sitting – even “productive” sitting, as many of us do at work every day – is associated with profound health risks – even death – compared to more active behaviors. The trouble is, evidence also suggests the solution isn’t as simple as swapping out time sitting with time exercising. You can exercise for four hours a day at the gym, but if the remainder of your time is spent sitting, you increase your risk of developing cancer, heart disease and other entirely unpleasant –and life-threatening – conditions.
Now here’s the good news. If you can’t swap out sitting for exercising, new research suggests a simple solution: taking short breaks from sitting throughout the day. According to the study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, periodic five-minute walks reduce impaired blood flow in leg arteries, which can lead to cardiovascular disease, among other health issues. In the study, improvements were seen in participants who walked five minutes on a treadmill for every hour they spent sitting.
You probably don’t have a treadmill at work, but just about anyone in a sedentary occupation can find a few minutes every hour to get up from your chair, stretch and do a little walking, whether it’s around the block outside your office, climbing stairs if you’re in a high-rise building, or even strolling from one end of the building to the other and back a few times. Go here for more information.
Dramatic Reduction in Heart Attack Risk from Taking Omega-3 Supplements
A large percentage of adults in the United States are at high risk for heart disease and factors contributing to the risk of heart failure, including hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. Previous studies have found that omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for heart health and may reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular events. For example, the VITAL trial, which involved both vitamin D and omega-3s and was primarily focused on cancer and cardiovascular health, was a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial that included 25,871 participants. All participants were free of any cancer and cardiovascular disease diagnoses at baseline; some of the findings from the data included a 50% reduction in death from heart attack, an overall 25% reduced risk of heart attack, and a 77% reduced risk of heart attack specifically among African Americans, among those taking omega-3 fatty acids compared to placebo.
More info and studies at grassrootshealth.net
What’s the Best Weight-Loss and Disease-Prevention Diet?
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. 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,…
to read the rest go to nutritionfacts.org.
Acid Suppressants Linked to Fracture Risk
Proton-pump inhibitors sound like something right out of Star Wars, but they’re actually common - far too common, considering their potential risks - here in the real world.
This class of drugs, which includes Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid, among others, is prescribed to treat digestive tract issues such as gastroesophageal reflux, chronic dyspepsia (indigestion) and peptic ulcer disease. These conditions are all characterized by excessive production of stomach acid. The intended mechanism of action of proton-pump inhibitors, as you might expect, is to reduce acid by blocking the gastric proton pump; a decidedly unintended mechanism of action is increased fracture risk.
Following a recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of studies, the administration posted a “class labeling change” notice on its Web site alerting health care professionals and consumers that proton-pump inhibitors will now feature a label warning regarding “a possible increased risk of fractures at the hip, wrist and spine” attributable to their use. According to the FDA, people ages 50 or older who had been taking the medication for one year or more, often in high doses, were at the greatest risk.
If your doctor tells you proton-pump inhibitors are in your immediate future, ask about the potential side effects and if you can avoid taking medication altogether.
Your Brain Is What You Eat
Too often, people focus on keeping their bodies healthy and ignore their brains. Big mistake. Fortunately, you can control, at least to some extent, your health from head to toe, as your diet plays a significant role in both body and brain health. The latest evidence: a study that suggests a healthy diet is just what seniors need. Here’s why.
Seniors provided dietary, depressive and anxiety symptom data, and blood tests measured blood-based biomarkers of disease. Eating a healthier diet appeared to lower the risk of both depression and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This potential association is significant because depression is also a risk factor for AD. Findings appear in the research journal Neurobiology of Aging.
So, which diet is ideal? The study compared the Mediterranean diet with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet and the Western diet, concluding that the Mediterranean diet may be the best suited to promote brain health. To learn more about the Mediterranean diet, click here and talk to your doctor.