Weekly Health Update

Mental Attitude: Smile And Mean It!
Customer-service workers who fake smile worsen their mood and withdraw from work, affecting their productivity. On the other hand, workers who smile as a result of cultivating positive thoughts - such as a tropical vacation or a child's recital - improve their mood and withdraw less. Employers may think simply getting their employees to smile is good for the organization, but that's not necessarily the case, smiling for the sake of smiling can lead to emotional exhaustion and withdrawal, and that's bad for the organization.
Academy of Management Journal, March 2011

Health Alert: A Hefty Price!
People 70 pounds overweight will spend $30,000 extra in health care costs in their lifetime.
Scientific American, March 2011

Diet: Why Do We Over Eat?
Generational: "My parents taught me to clean my plate and not waste food." Relational: "Feelings will be hurt if I don't finish what they made me." Economical: "This is such a good deal - more bang for my buck." Convenience: "I'm in a rush and need it now." Emotional: "Eating helps me feel better."
Loyola University Health System, February 2011

Exercise: Another Benefit of Exercise.
According to David Nieman, director of Appalachian State University's Human Performance Lab in Kannapolis, NC, "No pill or nutritional supplement has the power of near-daily moderate activity in lowering the number of sick days people take."
Mayo Clinic

Chiropractic: The Power That Created The Body Heals The Body.
This statement describes the chiropractic philosophy that the body is a self-healing organism. The body functions well on its own as long as there is no interference of function (muscular restriction of the joints, poor nutrition that decreases cellular function, mental stress, poor sleep habits, lack of exercise, etc).

Wellness/Prevention: Healthy Lifestyles Help Healing.
Joint replacement patients who improve their lifestyle and maintain a positive mindset prior to surgery are more likely to have better functional outcomes than those who do not. Multiple studies found that patients who smoke, misuse alcohol, fail to control blood sugar levels or simply have a poor attitude prior to undergoing total hip or knee replacement surgery can double their odds of post-operative complications. Risk factors for complications like advanced age and pre-existing heart or lung conditions are difficult or impossible to change prior to surgery, but smoking, alcohol abuse, high blood sugar levels and poor mental attitude are completely manageable by the patients themselves, which makes them an excellent target for prevention and intervention programs that are likely to improve outcomes. Current smokers had higher odds of pneumonia (53%), stroke (161%), site infections (41% ) and one-year mortality (63%) compared to non-smokers. Prior smokers were at higher odds of stroke (114%) and pneumonia (34%), compared with non-smokers.
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, February 2011

Memorial Day - Change in Office Hours

Our office will be closed on Monday, May 30th, in observance of Memorial Day.

We will be OPEN, in the morning and afternoon, on Tuesday, May 31st, for both Chiropractic and Physical Therapy appointments.

In order to maintain a proper treatment schedule, we would like any patients normally having treatment on Mondays to please reschedule those appointments for Tuesday.

Please call our friendly staff to reschedule your appointments. We are happy to help you!!

Wishing everyone a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend!

Watching your back,
Dr. Brad
201-651-9100

Weekly Health Update

Mental Attitude: Exercise Your Mood.
Regular exercise reduces symptoms of moderate depression and enhances psychological fitness. During exercise, plasma levels of endorphins increases in the body, which can have an effect on the psychological state. Endorphins are hormones in the brain associated with a happy, positive feeling. A low level of endorphins is associated with depression. A recent National Health and Nutrition survey found physically active people were half as likely to be depressed. Exercise also boosts the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that send specific messages from one brain cell to another. Though only a small percentage of all serotonin is located in the brain, this neurotransmitter is thought to play a key role in keeping your mood calm.
WebMD.com

Health Alert: Diabetes Out Of Control!
8.3% of Americans of all ages are affected by diabetes! 11.3% of Americans over 20 years old have diabetes. 27% of Americans who have diabetes do not know and 35% of individuals over 20 years old in the US have pre-diabetes. How do you prevent it? Try a healthy diet and regular exercise.
CDC, 2011

Diet: Is It A Fad Diet?
How can you tell if a diet is a fad diet? Here are some useful hints: It promotes or bans certain foods or food groups. It pushes a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. It promises quick, dramatic or miraculous results. It focuses on short-term changes to eating and exercise habits. It encourages 'miracle' pills, potions or supplements - often promoted as 'fat burners' and 'metabolism boosters'. It contradicts the advice of trusted health professionals. It makes claims based on a single study or testimonials.
Dietitians Association of Australia, January 2011

Exercise: 7 Benefits of Regular Exercise.
1) Exercise improves mood. 2) Exercise combats chronic disease. 3) Exercise helps you manage your weight. 4) Exercise boosts your energy level. 5) Exercise promotes better sleep. 6) Exercise can put the spark back in your love life. 7) Exercise can be fun!
Mayo Clinic

Chiropractic: The Very First!
"I claimed to be the first person to adjust a vertebra by hand, using the spinous and transverse processes and levers. I developed the art known as adjusting, and formulated the science of chiropractic, and developed its philosophy."
~ DD Palmer

Wellness/Prevention: Family Mealtimes?
The amount of time families spend eating meals together has been linked to the health and wellbeing of children and teens. Families who eat together regularly report declines in substance abuse, eating disorders, and unhealthy weight in their children.
Child Development, Feb 2011

What You Should Know About Back Surgery

If I told you that you should take your car to a mechanic for a problem and that 90% of the time he WOULD NOT fix your problem and that through his work you would have all sorts of complications with your car for the rest of the time you owned it - WOULD YOU GO? WOULD YOU THINK I WAS CRAZY FOR SUGGESTING IT? Maybe, maybe not. What if I recommended a Plumber, Landscaper, Dentist or any other profession that had a 90% FAILURE RATE you would never listen to me again.

Shockingly, there are over 500,000 spine surgeries in the United States every year AND NEW RESEARCH PROVES THAT 90% OF THEM FAIL. On top of that, almost 1/3 of those who had surgery required ANOTHER SURGERY! In fact, in the United States, we do 40% more spine surgeries then any other country in the world. Why do we do so many, and with such a horrific success rate? Why would they keep doing them? The answer: MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. The research study proved that every year we spend between $100 billion and $200 billion on spine surgeries (making it the 9th MOST COSTLY condition to treat). What's disheartening is that when the researches looked into this they stated "We know one thing: doctors and hospitals are making huge profits off the backs (no pun intended) of unsuspecting patients who are not told there may be better and cheaper ways to solve their back pain with non-invasive methods (like chiropractic)..".

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Maybe... over the years I have seen a much greater percentage of new patients in my clinic who are questioning the fear tactics and strong handed positions that surgeons are putting on their patients. On top of that, no doubt based on fear of lost income, I am being approached by numerous orthopaedic surgeons who are looking for my help. They are offering me opportunities to work with them in hopes that I will "feed them" patients that they can talk into surgery. It seems that when it comes down to it - they are business men and care a lot more about money then you can imagine. Just a few years ago, they wouldn't even look my way (as a chiropractor)- now they are doing whatever they can to get my patients to come for more surgeries.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? First, and most important, there are dozens of different ways we can treat you and your friends who have back pain, sciatica and disc herniations, naturally and without ANY side effects. Take care of your problems NOW - because they ALWAYS degenerate into more serious problems. Second, always choose surgery as the last possible option - why? Because once you cut the spine you can never go back.

Watching your back,
Dr. Brad
201-651-9100

Weekly Health Update

Mental Attitude: Poor Eating Habits Can Cause Depression.
The ingestion of trans-fats and saturated fats increase the risk of suffering depression, while ingesting olive oil appears to protect against depression. Participants with an elevated consumption of trans-fats (fats present in artificial form in industrially-produced pastries and fast food, and naturally present in certain whole milk products) showed a 48% increase in the risk of depression. Also, the more trans-fats consumed, the greater the harmful effect they produced.
Public Library of Science, February 2011

Health Alert: Only 24 Hours In A Day!
National restrictions were first introduced in 2003 to limit the hours resident physicians could be on duty. At the time, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) cited increasing acuity and intensity of medical care in teaching institutions, as well as scientific evidence of the negative effect of sleep deprivation on performance, as reasons for instituting restrictions. Those limits were not to exceed 80 hours in a week or more than 24 consecutive hours. In December 2008, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report recommending further action to reduce resident fatigue and ensure patient safety within 24 months of the report. The IOM committee did not recommend a change from the maximum of 80 hours per week, averaged over four weeks, but instead recommends decreasing the maximum length of shifts, increasing the time off between shifts and mandating a sleep period during longer shifts.
Journal of the American College of Radiology, 2010

Diet: Tea Can Help.
This study looked at the effect of treating superficial precancerous lesions in the mucosal lining of the mouth with a mixed tea product. After the six-month trial, partial regression of the lesions was observed in 37.9% of the group treated with tea as compared to only 10% of those treated with a placebo.
Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1999

Exercise: Exercise And Stress.
Regular exercise reduces the amount of stress hormones in the body, lowers the resting heart rate, relaxes blood vessels, and lowers blood pressure.
Mayo Clinic, March 2011

Chiropractic: Have Back Pain?
Spinal manipulation is the best treatment for acute low back pain.
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research

Wellness/Prevention: A Cup Of Tea.
The antioxidant properties of tea flavonoids may play a role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease by decreasing lipid oxidation, reducing the instances of heart attacks and stroke, and may beneficially impact blood vessel function (an important indicator of cardiovascular health).
Archives of Internal Medicine, 1996

Whiplash: Can It Be Prevented?

Whiplash, or cervical acceleration-deceleration disorder (CAD) often occurs in car collisions. So, the question is raised, "...can it be prevented?" To answer this we must first consider the obvious facts about minimizing your distractions when you drive: intoxication, engaged conversation (especially if you're trying to make eye contact), talking on your cell phone or worse, texting while driving (equal to 3 mixed drinks!!!), messing with the radio, GPS, or other "gadgets" in the car, eating while driving, putting on makeup, shaving, and yes, even reading a book while driving! If you're getting tired pull over for a "power nap." Even a 15-20 min. "shut eye" session can really help. But these things are obvious (and WELL DOCUMENTED)! What other factors, like features in cars can minimize or possibly prevent injury in the event of a crash?

The headrest is a very most important feature in the vehicle for preventing or at least reducing the degree of injury in a crash. Unfortunately, most people do not bother setting the headrest at the correct height, as it's usually in a position that is too low. When this occurs, the head can slide over the top of the headrest which can actually result in greater injury as it acts like a fulcrum allowing the head to hyperextend over it. It can also make the injuries associated with whiplash much worse. The proper height of the headrest should be no lower than the top of the ear level but in a lot of cases, the top third of the head may be a better choice, especially if the headrest is small in size or, if the seat is reclined. The angle of the seatback is important with reference to headrests because when the seatback is reclined, there is a certain amount of "ramping" that occurs in rear-end collisions. This is bec ause when the seat is reclined back, the seatback can act literally like a ramp and your whole body can slide up the ramp/seatback and your head can end up over the top of headrest. Therefore, keep the seatback as vertical as you can tolerate. The degree of "spring" or bounce of the seat back also affects the speed or acceleration of the rebound that occurs in a crash but unfortunately, the seat's "springiness" can't really be changed.

Seat belts and airbags are a great pair of safety features as they work together to reduce the chances of a serious injury, as well as whiplash. The seatbelt's job is to stabilize the trunk and prevent the occupant from being ejected from the vehicle while the airbag protects the chest, neck and head from hitting the steering wheel or windshield. Seatbelts arrived on the scene in the 1970s, shoulder restraints shortly thereafter, and airbags in 1985. An 8 year study by the U of Pittsburgh reported on over 7000 spine injured patients, and found a significant reduction of spine related injuries when both seatbelts and airbags were utilized. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advises at least a 10-inch distance between the steering wheel and the breastbone in order to avoid airbag injuries, which reportedly occur within the first 2-3 inches of the airbag.

The "take home" message here is when you combine: 1. Staying alert by avoiding all the many distractions that can lure your eyes off the road; 2. Slowing down when you see or sense trouble, and, 3. Making sure your seatbelt is fastened (and those of your passengers, as well) and your airbag still works, you can be quite confident you are doing your part in preventing injury (including whiplash) for both yourself and potentially others!

We realize you have a choice in where you go for your health care needs and we truly appreciate your consideration in allowing us to help you through that potentially difficult process.

Dangerous Headaches

This month's topic will address dangerous headaches. To keep this in perspective, most headaches are NOT dangerous. In fact, tension-type headaches and migraines are very common and remain the focus of most health care providers and patients who suffer from headaches. With that said, it's important to discuss the signs and symptoms that might help all of us differentiate between headaches that are safe versus those which are not safe.

The most important factor to consider is when the "typical" headache is suddenly "different." Some of these "different" symptoms may include slurred speech, difficulty communicating or formulating thought, seizures, fainting or loss of consciousness (even for a few seconds), memory lapses, double or blurred vision, profound dizziness, numbness in the face or half of the body, an "alarm" should sound off telling you to get this checked ASAP as these symptoms, when they deviate from "the norm" may be indicative of a more serious condition. This can be challenging as seizures are often related to migraines and might be a common symptom of a migraine headache for some migraine sufferers.

Signs of a dangerous headache include:

1. A headache that starts suddenly, especially if it's of a severe degree.
2. Headaches that start later in life, especially after the age of 50.
3. A change in the quality of headaches.
4. Visual changes, including double vision or loss of vision.
5. Weakness, numbness, or any other neurological symptoms.
6. Fevers - especially of rapid onset.
7. Change in mental status including sleepiness, hallucinations, speech changes or confusion.
8. Weight loss.

If there is ever ANY doubt about a dangerous headache, your physician should be contacted. Typically, the migraine patient will notice a fairly consistent set of symptoms and even though the headaches can vary in intensity, the sequence of events is fairly consistent. Dangerous headaches are the ones that deviate significantly from that migraine sufferer's "norm." For example, suppose a patient's "typical" migraine is: aura (bright, flashy lights in the visual field or, a strange odor precedes the migraine about 30 min. before the headache strikes), followed by a gradually increasing pain in half of the head which worsens to a point of nausea and sometimes vomiting if something isn't done to stop it (such as a chiropractic adjustment and/or some form of medication). If this is that patient's "usual," IF any of the 8 items previously listed above accompany the headache, it should be further evaluated - often requiring an EEG (electroencephalogram) and/or MRI (Magnetic Resonant Image). The EEG will test for any electrical signal changes in the brai n and the MRI will show space occupying structures such as tumors, bleeding, infection, aneurism, and if performed with a contrast agents, arterial malformations (that is, abnormal networks of blood vessels).

We realize you have a choice in where you choose your healthcare services. If you, a friend or family member requires care for headaches, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

Weekly Health Update

Mental Attitude: Improved Memory?
Scientists from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York increased the amount of the protein IGF-II in rats and found they showed significantly improved long term memory. The effects of the IGF-II were also found to last for several weeks.
Nature, February 2011

Health Alert: Kids Working?
Many teens work part-time during the school year and in the current economic climate, more youths may seek after school employment. Working more than 20 hours a week is associated with declines in school engagement, a lower probability of continued education, and increases in problem behavior such as stealing, carrying a weapon, drinking alcohol and using illegal drugs.
Child Development, Feb 2011

Diet: I Could Have Had A...
Studies show drinking vegetable juice may be a simple way for people to increase their vegetable intake and may help them more effectively manage their weight. Adults who drank one 8-ounce glass of vegetable juice each day consumed nearly twice as many vegetable servings a day than those who did not drink any vegetable juice. Also, 9 of 10 who drank the popular vegetable juice V8 said they felt they were doing something good for themselves.
Journal of the American Medical Association, 2010

Exercise: Burning Calories!
Most people know exercise keeps muscles strong. Did you know strong muscles burn more calories? Muscle mass is metabolically active tissue. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn even when you're not working out! For each pound of muscle you add, you will burn an additional 35-50 calories per day. So, an extra 5 pounds of muscle will burn about 175-250 calories a day or an extra pound of fat every 14-20 days.
Mayo Clinic

Chiropractic: Light As A Feather!
Pressure on a nerve root equal to a feather falling on your hand resulted in up to a 50% decrease in electrical transmission down the nerve supplied by that root.
Seth Sharpless, Ph.D. and Marvin Luttges, Ph.D.

Wellness/Prevention: Prevent Bad Lifestyle Habits.
Unhealthy habits are especially predominant amongst young adults ages 19-26. Data points to the fact that young people show more risk behavior than expected (more even than they themselves perceive) and believe they are healthier than they really are. Unhealthy habits include poor diet, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of physical activity, risky sexual practices, smoking cigarettes, taking drugs and getting insufficient sleep. Bad habits tend to worsen with age. Special attention has to be paid to adolescents because around 16 years of age appears to be the point of no return, the age when either healthy activities are adopted or risk behavior patterns arise.
AlphaGalileo Foundation. January 2011

Fibromyalgia - Tips From Real Patients

We have discussed fibromyalgia (FM) from many perspectives but what we haven't done yet is listen to what actual FM patients have to say about what works and what doesn't work. Rather than reading about what "the experts" say about FM and what to do for it, let's take a different perspective - let's talk to those who have FM and hear what they have to say about the "do's and don'ts."

Consider the following great "pearls of wisdom" for those suffering from FM:

• Stick to a schedule--it helps.
• Know when you're pushing too much, and listen to what your body is telling you.
• Keep a journal every day about what you do and how you feel.
• Focus on the 4 P's: pacing, problem solving, prioritizing, and planning.
• Work on your communication skills, and don't be afraid to ask for what you need.
• Exercise and diet are very important.
• Acknowledge your limits--recognize what you can and can not do.
• Exercise if you can--swimming helps me because it's easier on my joints.
• Don't overdo it or your symptoms will really kick in.
• Know your limitations--if you're tired, know when to rest.
• Join a support group--or even start one yourself.
• Stay informed--there's a lot of research and helpful information out there.
• Find a doctor who really sits down and listens to you and understands your pain.
• Use your friends and family as support.
• Learn about Fibromyalgia by reading up on the subject.
• Accept help when you need it.
• Wear a sweat suit when you exercise on the stationary bike; the heat may help to soothe your muscles.
• Sleep is very important. Try not to nap during the day so you can sleep better at night.
• It's important to take your medication as prescribed.
• Balance your meals with a low-fat, high-protein diet. Drink plenty of water.
• Stretching, swimming, walking, and a little yoga may help you deal with the pain.
• Keep moving and enjoy life.
• Exercise! Keep those muscles and bones flexed and firm. But do not overdo it!
• Write down the things that may have brought about your pain.
• Keep this list on your refrigerator as a reminder.
• This is just one way to help you manage the severity of your next "bad" day.
• List the people you can rely on ahead of time to help you on your "bad" days.
• Just knowing that you have backup may help reduce your stress.
• Your support network can help with completing important tasks.
• For example, on a "bad" day, ask them to run an errand or pick up your children from school.
• Sometimes, they could just be there to listen.

If you, a friend or family member requires care for FM, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services!

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Injuries

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a very common complaint often associated with repetitive motion related jobs. There are 9 tendons traveling down the arm from the elbow that "merge" or come together in the relatively tight carpal tunnel, kind of like when 4 lanes of traffic suddenly narrow into 1 lane. We all know what happens when there is road construction during rush hour - traffic comes to a screeching halt and you have to sit there and wait, and wait, then move an inch or two, painfully waiting to reach the end of the construction zone. However, when its not rush hour, traffic may not slow down much at all because there simply aren't many cars on the road. This analogy is VERY similar to CTS as the 9 tendons and median nerve are the lanes of traffic that merge together as they travel through the tight carpal tunnel in the wrist. When a worker, let's say a typist, works long hours at the computer typing as fast as possible (like heavy traffic during rush hour), the repetitive rubbing of the tendons in the tunnel creates friction, heat, swelling, and eventually pinching of the nerve resulting in the classic numb thumb and first four fingers. They have to stop shake their hands and flick their fingers to get the them to "wake up" and then they can resume typing again, but have to stop and go and shake/flick the hands/fingers several times during the day. As a result, they either have to take a break and rest or, compensate by shifting their body into different positions in attempt to reduce the strain on the wrist tendons.

Some of the ways we shift in attempt to reduce strain includes raising the elbows away from the sides of the body, shrugging the shoulders up towards the ears, moving the head and neck into different positions like poking the chin out, slouching, plus combinations of all or some of these. Over time, these compensatory faulty postures end up straining the other surrounding joints and when this occurs, the collection of all painful areas is referred to as "cumulative trauma disorders" or, CTDs. As you can see, it's important to treat or manage the CTS condition early on so we can avoid the progression into the other CTDs or else, treatment will also have to address many other conditions such as (partial list): tennis and/or golfer elbow (tendonitis), shoulder tendonitis, neck or cervical strain, and/or radiating neck to arm pain (cervical disc injury with radiation of pain into the arm). CTDs can also be a contributing cause to mid an d low back pain. As these conditions gradually occur, the longer it takes to stop the progression and sometimes, many of these conditions can become permanent.

There are a lot of ways we can avoid the cascade of events that lead to CTS and other CTDs, some of which include: 1. Early intervention (treatment) - chiropractic care works particularly well at this stage. 2. Taking "mini-breaks" during the work day such as a 1-minute every 30-60 minutes to stretch the neck, shoulders, forearms, hands and fingers. 3. Performing specific carpal tunnel / wrist stretches (placing the palm of the hand on a wall at shoulder level, keep the elbow straight, pointing the fingers down towards the floor). 4. Wearing a cock-up splint, especially at night (this prohibits extreme wrist bent positions and the numbness feeling that can wake us up at night). 5. Modifying a workstation, such as moving the computer monitor so the neck/head point straight ahead. Work station modifications can also reduce awkward hand/wrist positions that overload the tendons of the wrists by lowering the mouse and/or keyboard if the y are too high, or padding a sharp countertop edge to prevent it from digging into the forearm and further pinching the nerve.

We realize you have a choice in who you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend or family member require care for CTS, we would be honored to render our services.

Low Back Pain: Where Does The Pain Come From?

"Were does the pain come from?" is probably the most commonly asked question we hear as chiropractors and frequently, the patient is not told the answer to this simple question. The problem is, the question is not so simple. This is because there are many structures in the low back that share a common nerve supply and hence, the pain arising from those structures is located in the same area of the back. For example, the back portion of the disk, the facet capsule and some of the deep muscles in the spine are all innervated by the same nerve and therefore hurt is a similar location. In all honesty, the only way to try to isolate the pain generator is to inject a local anesthetic to block the pain for a short while. This is like when you go to the dentist and they "numb" your tooth so you don't feel the pain when they work on it. After a few hours, you start to feel some "life" coming back to your mouth a nd soon it regains its full feeling. Of course, no one would consider "numbing" the back just to figure out exactly where the pain is arising as really, it's not that important. This is because the chiropractic treatment approach is similar regardless of the exact tissue that is involved. However, it DOES matter in cases where a nerve root is shooting pain down the leg caused by a herniated disk vs. a localized pain in the back that doesn't radiate. Hence, we doctors of chiropractic will work hard to differentiate these two distinct types of conditions as the treatment is definitely different.

In 1995, the Quebec Task Force recognized the importance of this distinction and recommended all health care providers concentrate on differentiating the nerve root / herniated disk case from what is called "mechanical low back pain." As noted in the model below, the arrow and pen point to the two most common structures that cause nerve root pain (the herniated disk) and mechanical low back pain (the facet joint).

The facet joint, when sprained / injured, hurts worse when bending backwards and feels good bending forwards. This is exactly the opposite for the herniated disk where bending backwards helps reduce pain and often reduces the shooting leg pain as well, while bending over even a little can create a sharp stabling pain in the back that may shoot down the leg. Of course, there are variations of this and, to make matters more complicated, BOTH the disk and the facet can generate pain at the same time, so it's not always this cut and dry.

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services. If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

Weekly Health Update

Mental Attitude: Parents Can Help.
Many studies show parenting under stress can negatively affect children. Parents who struggle financially, who suffer from depression, or who are single parents need extra support. In schools offering ParentCorps, a program for families of Pre-Kindergarten students in disadvantaged urban communities that focuses on improved parenting strategies, parents reported using more effective discipline strategies and were observed in the home to be more responsive to their children during play interactions. By the end of the Pre-Kindergarten year, children in schools with ParentCorps were rated by their teachers as better behaved and showed more social and emotional competencies.
Child Development, February 2011

Health Alert: Unemployed And Unhealthy!
Unemployed people between the ages of 30 and 59 years are often affected by physical, emotional, and functional impairments such as sleep disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance addictions. The health consequences of unemployment result from loss of income, loss of social contacts in the workplace, and/or loss of social reputation. Unemployed men and women who are supported by their partners, family members, or friends are less frequently affected by these complaints.
Deutsches Aerzteblatt International, February 2011

Diet: Genes And Your Sweet Tooth.
The substance ghrelin plays an important role in binge-eating and sugar consumption. Ghrelin is a neuropeptide that activates the brain's reward system and increases appetite. People with certain changes in the ghrelin gene consume more sugar than their peers. Researchers also found, when ghrelin was blocked, rats reduced their consumption of sugar and were less motivated to hunt for sugar.
Plos One, April 2011

Exercise: The Great Outdoors!
Exercising in natural environments is associated with greater feelings of revitalization, increased energy and positive engagement, with decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression. Participants also reported greater enjoyment and satisfaction with outdoor activity and were more likely to repeat the activity.
Environmental Science and Technology, February 2011

Chiropractic: Stop On A Dime!
At the spinal nerve root level, a sustained pressure increase of the weight of a dime was adequate to produce interference in normal nerve transmission!
Dr. Chung Ha Suh, University of Colorado

Wellness/Prevention: Adopt Healthy Habits!
When considering levels of HDL, or "good" cholesterol, people who did not improve any lifestyle factors between youth and adulthood had more than double the prevalence of low HDL levels (26.2% vs. 11.9%). Those who had improved at least two lifestyle factors had a prevalence of low HDL less than one-fourth that of the study average.
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, February 2011