Category: Wellness

High serum glucose. High cholesterol. High blood pressure. This is a trifecta you definitely don’t want to have. This combination of laboratory findings is known as metabolic syndrome, a new medical term that has been in existence for less than ten years. It’s well-known that there is an epidemic of obesity in America. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Thirty percent of American children are overweight or obese. The numbers continue to increase. The United States is also in the midst of an epidemic in diabetes. Eight percent of Americans over age 20 have diabetes – one in twelve people. Again, the numbers are increasing.

Recently, public health researchers discovered that people who were overweight and had diabetes also had high blood pressure – the combination of findings was termed metabolic syndrome. The implication is that if a person has one or more of these abnormal findings, he is at risk for the others.^1,2,3 If a person has high blood glucose she is at risk for high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. Being overweight increases the risk of developing diabetes and developing cardiovascular disease – heart attack and stroke.

The statistics and medical conclusions are sobering, and yet there is good news. Each of these serious disorders – diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure – is a lifestyle disease. Lifestyle contributes significantly to developing any and all of these conditions. Making long-lasting changes in the way we live has long-lasting effects on our health and well-being. Lifestyle recommendations are not breaking news. Everyone knows about the benefits of healthy nutrition and regular vigorous exercise. Research has consistently shown that diet, exercise, and proper rest significantly improve one’s health. The great challenge is to cause people to engage in these activities which are in their own interest.

An additional important lifestyle change is to engage in regular chiropractic care. Chiropractic care ensures optimal functioning of the nerve system which ensures optimal functioning of all other body systems. If the nerve system is over- or understimulated, physiology will break down in various ways and disease will result. Chiropractic care balances nerve system activity via gentle manipulation of spinal joints. Proper function of the spine results, with normalization of nerve activity. Chiropractic care enhances all other lifestyle activities. Healthy nutrition and regular exercise can have maximum benefit when your spine and nerve system are functioning properly.

¹McNaughton SA, et al: Dietary patterns, insulin resistance, and incidence of type 2 diabetes in the Whitehall II Study. Diabetes Care 31(7):1343-1348, 2008
²Brunner EJ, et al: Dietary patterns and 15-y risks of major coronary events, diabetes, and mortality. Am J Clin Nutr 87(5):1414-1421, 2008
³Roman B, et al: Effectiveness of the Mediterranean diet in the elderly. Clin Interv Aging 3(1):97-109, 2008

All of us have thought, at one point or another, and possibly more than once, “I wish I knew then what I know now.” It’s been famously said that “hindsight is 20/20”. Our clarity of thought with respect to what we should have done is frequently much more acute than was our thinking in those past irretrievable moments. However, some things are capable of being put right to a substantial degree. We cannot go back in time, but we can take steps in the present to redress certain relative failures of ours, specifically those regarding healthy lifestyle choices.

Of course, we don’t get a “do-over” regarding the past 10, 20, or 30 years of relative neglect. But the very good news is that it’s not too late to get back on track and obtain higher overall levels of health and well-being. It’s not too late to begin making healthy lifestyle decisions that will provide a lifetime of benefit. Starting now, by taking action in the areas of regular exercise, a nutritious diet, and getting sufficient rest, you can obtain substantial across-the-board improvement in your health.^1,2

How is it possible to gain such improvement, despite however many years of lack of attention to regular exercise and unhealthy eating? The answers lie in the dynamic nature of human physiology and the complexity of its internal feedback structures. One such dynamic process is the adaptive response to mechanical stress. For example, Wolff’s law states that bones remodel along lines of physiological stress. Exercise causes long bones and the bones of your pelvis to bear increased physiological loads during relatively short intervals. In turn, these load-bearing bones are stimulated to build new bone. Your bones become structurally stronger in response to physiological work. Similarly, large muscle groups such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, pectorals, and latissimus dorsi are stimulated to increase their mass and bulk. Regular, vigorous exercise causes growth of additional muscular tissue and development of new networks of blood vessels to supply these muscles with necessary oxygen and nutrients. In addition to your musculoskeletal system becoming stronger, leaner, and more efficient, your heart and lungs develop increased capacity and become more resilient. Physiological dynamic responses are also engaged when you shift your dietary habits toward a healthy regime. No matter your current condition and circumstances, by engaging in regular, vigorous exercise and healthy eating habits you will dramatically improve your levels of fitness, health, and well-being.³

Looking back with regret as what has occurred will not help us achieve what we want to achieve in the here and now. We can apply 20/20 vision to our present choices and choose healthy lifestyle behaviors now and into the future. The beneficiaries include our families, our friends, and ourselves.

¹Schnohr P, et al: Dose of jogging and long-term mortality: the Copenhagen City Heart Study. J Am Coll Cardiol 65(5)411:419, 2015
² Watson K, Baar K: mTOR and the health benefits of exercise. Semin Cell Dev Biol 36:130-9, 2014
³Kelley GA, et al: Effects of exercise on depression in adults with arthritis: a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arthritis Res Ther 17(1):21, 2015

We’ve heard a lot lately regarding how certain nations play a long game in terms of regional influence and global geopolitics. The concept of a so-called long game is interesting in that it implies a more than common degree of patience and a commitment to outcomes that are evaluated over decades and generations, rather than months or years. Importantly, strategies and tactics that produce desired results in the international arena may be applied with success to the long-term health and well-being of ourselves and our families.

In terms of good health, a person’s unfolding strategy always consists of putting into place lifestyle behaviors that appropriately support the desired long-term goals. For example, eating a healthy diet and engaging in regular vigorous exercise have been proved of great benefit in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The primary categories of chronic diseases include cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, overweight/obesity, and cancer. Most person’s long-term health goals would naturally focus on avoiding the onset of these various disorders and diseases or preventing their progression to a chronic state. If one is late in arriving at a decision to engage in self-care, as frequently happens in our society, the good news is that lifestyle behavior change is always beneficial. What is required, for all of us, is to adopt the perspective of the long game.

For example, obtaining the necessary long-term benefits of an exercise program requires a certain amount of dedication and persistence. Any exercise is good, but regular exercise is much better. Our bodies are dynamic and adapt positively to physiological and mechanical stresses, such as the stresses imposed by an exercise program. But that same dynamism will cause a metabolic breakdown of muscle and bone if those tissues are not being worked and utilized consistently. Our bodies are very smart and are designed to work efficiently. Biochemical components of structures that are assessed to be unnecessary will be redirected to better purpose elsewhere. In other words, the “use it or lose it” principle applies. If we want to build strong muscles and bones that will serve us well and help us avoid injury over the course of many years, we need to engage in regular vigorous exercise ongoingly.

Thus, committing to the long game supports our desire for a long life of good health. There can be gaps, of course. People are very busy and there may be stretches, even lasting months, when there just isn’t time enough to do necessary exercise. The solution is to minimize these gaps as much as possible, make sure the gaps don’t become the new routine, and re-engage in regular exercise as soon as feasible. Adherence to our long game strategy will help achieve across-the-board wins in the areas of health and well-being.

Regular chiropractic care is an important part of the long view regarding your family’s health and well-being. Even though we engage in healthy lifestyle activities, events frequently occur that have a negative impact on our health. The events themselves may be not obvious, hidden from view as a result of originating in our day-to-day environment or seemingly harmless mechanical stresses as we bump into things, trip over a crack in the sidewalk, or pick up a laundry basket filled with clothes.

But these little insults often have a cumulative effect in causing spinal misalignments and nerve interference. We’re not aware of the health effects of nerve interference at the beginning. Over time, nerve irritation that results from spinal misalignments may cause neck pain, back pain, and headaches, and even problems with the digestive, endocrine, and immune systems. Regular chiropractic care, as a consistent part of your family’s routine, helps prevent a wide range of problems from getting started, and helps us get better faster from the problems that may have brought us to our chiropractor’s office in the first place.

1. Engberg E, et al: The effects of health counselling and exercise training on self-rated health and well-being in middle-aged men: a randomised trial. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2016 Apr 5. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Davies MJ, et al: A community based primary prevention programme for type 2 diabetes integrating identification and lifestyle intervention for prevention: the Let’s Prevent Diabetes cluster randomised controlled trial. Prev Med 84:48-56, 2016
3. Pandey A, et al: Relationship Between Physical Activity, Body Mass Index, and Risk of Heart Failure. J Am Coll Cardiol 69(9):1143-1146, 2017

When we think of healthful lifestyle choices we generally consider requirements for a healthy diet and regular vigorous exercise. We want to be sure we’re eating a wide variety of foods from the primary food groups and that we’re careful to watch our daily calorie intake. In the realm of exercise, we want to do a minimum of 30 minutes of vigorous exercise five days a week. These lifestyle recommendations apply to young and older adults, older children, and teenagers, that is, the entire extended family. But many people neglect to take into account the third pillar of healthy lifestyle enhancement, that of getting sufficient rest. Obtaining sufficient restorative, refreshing sleep may be the most underrated and under-discussed lifestyle choice.^1,2

The amount of sleep necessary to maintain good health varies among individuals, but the minimum requirement is most often reported as seven hours. For most of us, getting less than seven hours of sleep a night on a regular basis will likely be insufficient to support physiological functioning. For example, the great philosopher Immanuel Kant famously got up at 5 am every day. But Kant went to bed at 10 pm, thus obtaining seven hours of restful sleep per night.

Sufficient rest enables our bodies to recover from daily stresses and strains and repair damaged cells and tissues. Getting less sleep than we need, over time, results in muscle and joint stiffness and tension, otherwise unexplained aches and pains, impaired digestion with a wide range of symptoms, emotional irritability, and disordered cognitive function.³ Without sufficient sleep, people become more easily confused and forgetful. Decision-making becomes flawed. It becomes much more difficult to analyze and comprehend the big picture, whatever the undertaking. If these symptoms sound all too familiar, the source of the problem may frequently be identified as failing to get the amount of sleep you really need.

Thus, contrary to the six, five, or four hours of sleep a night that business “gurus” and “consultants” claim they thrive on, seven hours of nightly sleep is a basic requirement for the vast majority of people. Eight hours of sleep is great when you can get it. The question becomes, how in our very busy lives is it possible to get this amount of sleep? The solution lies in following, approximately, the lifestyle chosen by Kant (1724–1804), the giant of the Enlightenment who needed optimum good health in order to support a lifetime of tremendously fruitful activity. Personal discipline comes into play. For example, arising at 5:30 or 6 am might work better for us, but we would need to make sure we go to bed at 10:30 or 11 pm.

Many may find, once they’ve become aware of the significance of this lifestyle upgrade, that seven-and-a-half or eight hours of sleep per night works best for them. The key is to get the rest that’s right for you. Over time, you and all your family members will notice the difference, as each one begins to fulfill this necessary component of healthy living. The long-term result is good health, happiness, and enjoyment in life.

How Regular Chiropractic Care can Improve the Quality of Sleep

We are not in charge during our sleep periods, that is, what happens when we sleep is not under the control of our conscious selves. All our physiological mechanisms, known as vegetative functions, proceed on their own. Just as when we’re awake, our heart, lungs, and digestive organs operate independently of our conscious instructions. But if we’re not controlling these life-sustaining systems, what is? The nerve system is in control, both when we’re asleep and awake. As our body’s master system, the nerve system makes sure that all the physiological systems are online, all the time.

But the nerve system itself requires maintenance and upkeep. That’s where regular chiropractic care comes in. Regular chiropractic care detects and corrects sources of nerve interference that would degrade the performance of our body’s master system. By helping to optimize spinal alignment and reducing the effects of nerve interference, regular chiropractic care helps us function efficiently and effectively. The result is good health in the present and assistance with ongoing health and well-being in the future.

1. Dulloo AG, et al: Nutrition, movement and sleep behaviours: their interactions in pathways to obesity and cardiometabolic diseases. Obesity Rev 18(Suppl S1):3-6, 2017
2. Saunders TJ: Combinations of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep: relationships with health indicators in school-aged children and youth. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 41(6 Suppl 3):S283-S293, 2016
3. Chambers AM: The role of sleep in cognitive processing: focusing on memory consolidation. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci 2017 Jan 3. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1433. [Epub ahead of print]

Change is an undeniable force that impacts everything. Nothing in the physical world, either on Earth or in the Universe itself, is able to resist change and ultimate decay. Supernovas, for example, are the final explosive moments of massive stars. Our own changes through life are not as dramatic, but nonetheless, they are just as meaningful, often profoundly so.

Some life cycles such as that of a leaf or butterfly are studied and appreciated as symbols of change. Yet, the physical changes we go through over the years and decades are often lamented instead of revered. We could mourn for our youthful selves, regretting our losses and wishing we could have retained what used to be, or we could return our perspective to the forces of life proceeding in and around us. In doing so, we come to realize we are not required to passively accept the march of time. In the context of physical health, we may focus our attention on the things we are capable of doing to resist the impact of the passing years and maintain and even upgrade our levels of fitness, health and well-being.

Realistically, physical structures do break down. For example, our intervertebral discs, the gelatinous shock-absorbers situated between pairs of spinal vertebras, begin to lose their maximum water content shortly after birth, owing to the ongoing effects of gravity. Thus, intervertebral disc degeneration is inevitable. But we can resist the process and slow the progression or loss, by pumping physiologic fluids back into the disc via physical activity and regular vigorous exercise. In this way, we rehydrate our intervertebral discs to the available maximum, improving our flexibility, agility and mobility as we do so.

Overall, lifestyle upgrades such as ensuring a healthy nutritious diet^1,2 and engaging in regular vigorous exercise five times a week³ help us be proactive against the effects of the passage of time. Importantly, we gain critical support for these activities by going for regular chiropractic care, which is a difference-maker when it comes to enhancing and upgrading our health and well-being. By identifying sources of nerve interference and correcting spinal misalignments, regular chiropractic care helps ensure optimal functioning and performance of all our body’s systems. As a result, we’re better able to get the most out of our lifestyle activities.

We may not be able to run a six-minute mile at age 60, but that’s not the point. What we can do is become much fitter and much healthier than we have been. We can lose weight and add pounds of lean muscle mass, sleep more restfully, have more energy throughout the day, upgrade our musculoskeletal adaptability, and improve our long-term health and well-being. We have the time that is ours to have.

1. Mangano KM, et al: Dietary protein is associated with musculoskeletal health independently of dietary pattern: the Framingham Third Generation Study. Am J Clin Nutr 2017 Feb 8. pii: ajcn136762. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.136762. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Via MA, Mechanick JI: Nutrition in Type 2 Diabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome. Med Clin North Am 100(6):1285-1302, 2016

All of us have had health-related issues at some time or other. Whether it’s low back pain, headaches, asthma, gastritis, an ankle sprain, or a rotator cuff injury, we’ve all had a health problem that ultimately needed treatment. Chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and various types of cancer are especially difficult and usually require interacting with multiple specialists over many years. However, regardless of our health history, it’s worthwhile for all of us to stop for a bit, sit down quietly, and take stock of our current health status.

As we carefully assess our current situation and where we’d like to be, telling the truth to ourselves is very important. Remarkably, engaging in the process of such an honest overview may create an opening for a new appreciation of the personal importance of health.

It’s likely that we will notice some dissatisfaction with our current health circumstances and may experience a degree of frustration, remembering a time when we were perfectly healthy. We might recall a time when we were 30 pounds lighter or when we didn’t have so many aches and pains, a time when we could sleep peacefully through the night and wake up actually refreshed and recharged.

It’s okay to dwell for a little while in a state of remorse concerning what we think we may have lost, but acknowledging the good news will actually provide us with much more energy and purpose. That good news consists of the awareness that our attitudes toward our health are always in our hands.

In this respect, we are in control. We may not be able to wave a magic wand and instantly heal a chronic health problem. We may not be able to magically turn back the hands of time or instantaneously decrease the readout on the bathroom scale, but all of us can forge a new attitude concerning our health and well-being. We can declare that we’re in charge of how we feel and that each day we’re going to take steps toward improving our overall health.^1,2

This notion of ownership, of responsibility, for own health may appear variously as a little hard to achieve. But it’s an everyday thing. All we need to do, is to take action today. Of course, over time these actions add up and in not too long a time we wake up to find that we really are recharged and refreshed, we really have lost some substantial weight, and/or we really have the experience that our muscles are lean, long, and well-toned. We find that we have become, thanks to our regular daily practice, a person who is healthy and well, even in the face of whatever chronic conditions may still persist.³

All personal wellness programs benefit from a holistic perspective. We don’t only want to get stronger, build lean muscle mass, lose weight, or sleep better, we actually want to accomplish all of these things in a total framework of health and well-being. All these components are interrelated and work together to accomplish long-lasting wellness.

Regular chiropractic care provides the structural foundation to achieve these objectives in the areas of fitness and good health. By focusing on the nerve system, your body’s master system, and detecting and correcting spinal misalignments, regular chiropractic care helps you get the most out of the time you spend in your wellness activities. By helping improve structural stability and improving nerve system function, regular chiropractic care helps us achieve our long-term health goals.

1. Dominguez LJ, et al: Association of a Dietary Score with Incident Type 2 Diabetes: The Dietary-Based Diabetes-Risk Score (DDS). PLoS One 2015 Nov 6;10(11):e0141760. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141760. eCollection 2015
2. Tremblay A, Lachance E: Tackling obesity at the community level by integrating healthy diet, movement and non-movement behaviours. Obes Rev 2017 Feb;18 Suppl 1:82-87. doi: 10.1111/obr.12504
3. Overdorf V, et al: The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms in Healthy Older Women. Gerontol Geriatr Med 2016 Feb 11;2:2333721415626859. doi: 10.1177/2333721415626859

Rejuvenation Versus Resignation

This is the time of the new year when our recently made resolutions are put to the test. Were they holiday-fueled imaginings or meaningful expressions of our heart’s true desires? Are our resolutions sturdy things that will help us carry out our goals and plans for the rest of the year or are they flimsy constructs composed of hopes rather than substance? Many of us will be faced with this conundrum shortly after the New Year’s celebrations have concluded and how we respond can have a significant impact on the rest of our lives.

When it comes to resolutions to improve our health and well-being: We know we should remain committed, but problems often arise when we attempt to put this knowledge into practice. For example, many people enshrine the same health-related goals into their annual New Year’s resolutions list year after year but never succeed at accomplishing what they set out to do.

New Year’s proclamations such as obtaining regular chiropractic care, losing weight, working out more, and eating better, are reasonable, appropriate, and laudable. The catch, however, is that for most of us our dedication to health-related plans doesn’t last much beyond a few weeks. So how can one find the motivation to keep firm in their resolutions?

The way to succeed in your 2017 resolutions is to approach each day for what it really is – a new day and opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the health and well-being of our families and ourselves.^1,2 By recognizing that we have a daily opportunity to refresh and reaffirm our New Year’s resolutions, we gain the freedom to implement our resolutions each time we get out of bed in the morning. In this way, throughout the course of the new year, we will continually rejuvenate our commitments to ourselves.

Your chiropractor can also help support your ongoing commitments to health and well-being. By detecting and correcting spinal misalignments that are sources of nerve interference, regular chiropractic care helps keep the nerve system, our body’s master system, in peak condition. With a well-tuned nerve system, the rest of our physiological systems such as the cardiorespiratory, digestive, endocrine, and immune systems are themselves enabled to function at top capacity, which in turn, can help support your health and well-being resolutions this year and for years to come.

1. Lesinski M, et al: Effects and dose-response relationships of resistance training on physical performance in youth athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med . 50(13):781-795, 2016
2. Miller MG, et al: Role of Fruits, Nuts, and Vegetables in Maintaining Cognitive Health. Exp Gerontol 2016 Dec 20. pii: S0531-5565(16)30606-4. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2016.12.014. [Epub ahead of print]

As evidence supporting the effectiveness of chiropractic continues to emerge, consumers are turning in record numbers to chiropractic care — a preventive, non-surgical, drug-free treatment option.

Just a few interesting facts on this increasingly popular form of health care:

• Chiropractic is the largest, most regulated, and best recognized of the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) professions. (Meeker, Haldeman; 2002; Annals of Internal Medicine)
• There are more than 60,000 active chiropractic licenses in the United States. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands officially recognize chiropractic as a health care profession.
• In 2002, approximately 7.4 percent of the population used chiropractic care – a higher percentage than yoga, massage, acupuncture or other diet-based therapies. (Tindle HA, Davis RB, Phillips RS, Eisenberg DM. Trends in use of complementary and alternative medicine by US adults: 1997-2002. Altern Ther Health Med. 2005 Jan-Feb;11(1):42-9.)
• Doctors of Chiropractic undergo at least four years of professional study at one of 16 chiropractic colleges accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), an agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. In addition, Doctors of Chiropractic must pass national board examinations and become state-licensed prior to practicing.
• In national surveys, patients favor chiropractic over medical care for back or neck pain. Patients routinely rate Doctors of Chiropractic highly in skill, manner, and explanation of treatment.
• Doctors of Chiropractic provide care in hospitals and other multidisciplinary health care facilities.
• Chiropractic is the third largest doctoral-level health care profession after medicine and dentistry.
• Back pain is the second leading cause of all physician visits in the U.S. In fact, half of all working Americans admit to having back pain each year. According to a study conducted by the American Chiropractic Association in 2001, 43% of patients seen by a doctor of chiropractic were treated for low-back pain.