jetlag

Jet lag is real, and lead to longer-lasting conditions if the disruption to your internal clock is persistent.

Have you ever known a person who can wake up, full of life, at the crack of dawn, just as the sun is beginning to rise? This same person probably begins to wind down at 8 p.m. and is in bed, sound asleep at 10 p.m.

What happens when this same person travels to a destination where the time is six hours earlier? This person leaves on a plane at say 9 a.m. travelling from London to New York. The flight is 7 hours long and when they land, it’s 11a.m. in New York but it’s 4 p.m.in London! So, somewhere around 5 p.m. New York time (10 p.m. London time), this same person starts to yawn, because according to his or her internal clock, it’s bedtime, only the sun is still out!

You can see where this starts to get confusing and we haven’t even brought this person back to London yet where the same thing happens all over again! And it’s not just frequent fliers who have circadian rhythm problems. Those who perform shift work, such as policemen and hospital workers, deal with this same issue every time their shifts change. This frequent resetting of one’s internal clock can cause sleep problems, such as insomnia or waking too early. Chronic disruption of one’s normal circadian rhythms, (i.e., shift work) can result in an increased risk for heart, gastrointestinal, emotional and mental problems, as well as headaches and fatigue. Paolo Sassone-Corsi, researcher, professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California, Irvine, states, “Our circadian rhythms and metabolism are closely partnered to ensure that cells function properly and remain healthy. When the balance between these two vital processes is upset, normal cellular function can be disrupted and this can lead to illness and disease.”

Research performed by Sassone-Corsi suggests that a way to correct your circadian rhythm is through proper sleep and diet. For example, establish a schedule of going to bed and waking at the same time every day (weekends included).

And regular chiropractic adjustments may help you deal with the stress of shift work and frequent travel!

valentine

Make the most of your Valentine

So you’ve decided this is the year you’re going to do Valentine’s Day up right, and you want to know how to make the most of it without ending up in the hospital or on the eleven o’clock news. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Don’t go breaking my heart

Romantic French restaurants, rich desserts and heart-shaped boxes of candy may sound romantic, but a visit to the E.R. with chest pains… not so much. Instead of overindulging to show your love, why not use Valentine’s Day as a kick-off to a heart-healthier relationship: join a gym with your sweetie, or set a weekly date to take a long walk, or sign up for a couples’ cooking class to learn to prepare healthy – and delicious – meals that will keep you both around for decades to come!

2. A kiss is just a kiss

Valentine’s Day falls right in the middle of cold and flu season, so it pays to make sure your immune system is functioning optimally before all those suitors come a-calling. Chiropractic care can keep your nervous system in tip-top shape, and a properly functioning nervous system is the key to staying healthy, even when your Valentine gives you a big, wet sneeze instead of the handmade card you were hoping for.

3. I’m leaving on a jet plane

Your idea of romantic might be the Eiffel Tower… or a canoe ride down the Amazon. In any event, if you’re going farther than the cozy Italian restaurant on the corner, you’ll want to make sure you’re prepared. Find out if your destination requires vaccinations and make sure you bring necessary sunscreen, insect repellant and any medication you take regularly. Nothing says “Unhappy Valentine’s Day” like a trip to a foreign hospital.

4. Tiny bubbles

Overindulging in alcohol is the leading risk factor for serious injury – and the third leading cause for preventable death. Go easy on the bubbly, and factor the cost of a cab into your Valentine’s Day budget just so there’s no temptation to drink and drive. Besides, if you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day, wouldn’t it be great to remember it?

5. Come on, baby, light my fire

Candle-lit dinners at home and cozy fires in the fireplace are the epitome of romance. Being interrupted during a romantic interlude by firefighters is just plain embarrassing. Don’t let other Valentine’s Day “activities” distract you into leaving fires unattended, or embarrassment could be the least of your concerns.

6. Take my breath away

Remember, many people suffer from food restrictions, allergies and other sensitivities, and the best way to show you care is to be sensitive to those concerns. A lobster dinner isn’t romantic to a person with shellfish allergies; prime rib is appalling to vegetarians; the most beautiful flowers in the world aren’t romantic to someone with asthma. Take the time to find out about your Valentine, and they’ll appreciate the consideration.

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be the end of your diet, or the reason for your very first – exciting! – ambulance ride. Remember moderation and consideration and you might just find lasting romance this Valentine’s Day.

chocolate

Some chocolate is actually good for you.

Dentists and conscientious parents shun chocolate because of its sugar content, which promotes tooth decay, and Xanthine, a chemical that has properties similar to caffeine. However, there actually are some health benefits associated with chocolate that have some people rethinking that position!

Dark chocolate only, not milk chocolate or white chocolate, may actually be good for you! Dark chocolate is loaded with flavonoids, powerful antioxidants that help your body resist the damaging effects of free radicals that cause an increase in heart disease and other illnesses.

The benefits associated with eating dark chocolate include:

• Reduction in LDL (bad) cholesterol by as much as 10%
• Increased production of endorphins and serotonin, brain chemicals associated with feelings of pleasure
• Reduction in blood pressure
• Increased ability for the body to turn sugar into energy – benefits for those with diabetes
• Improvement in healthy blood vessel function which results in better blood flow, which may reduce headaches

Now please, don’t take this to mean you can eat as much dark chocolate as you want because of its health benefits. Remember, chocolate is loaded with fat and calories, which can cause weight gain.

Studies to measure the health benefits of dark chocolate have used about three and a half ounces (100 grams) of dark chocolate each day, which adds 400 calories to your daily dietary intake. You would need to balance that increase in calories through changes to your daily diet and/or through exercise. Also, in order to receive the maximum benefit from dark chocolate, it must contain at least 65% cacao.

Remember too that regular chiropractic care increases your odds of staying healthy by strengthening the function of your nervous system, which helps your immune system to fight disease. Dark chocolate can only do so much, while chiropractic care can have far-reaching effects.

roller coaster

It may not be all fun at the amusement park if you end up with whiplash!

• Assault, such as being punched or shaken
• Roller coaster rides
• Sports, especially contact sports such as football or boxing
• Falls

A whiplash injury occurs when the cervical spine (neck) is stretched beyond its normal range of motion in a forward (flexion), backward (extension) or sideways movement. The discs between the vertebrae, along with their associated muscles, tendons and ligaments can be stretched or torn, resulting in symptoms such as:

• neck pain, stiffness or tenderness
• headache
• dizziness
• numbness or tingling sensation
• muscle spasms
• irritability
• memory loss
• blurred vision
• ringing in the ears
• back pain
• swelling

These symptoms and related pain can show up immediately or up to 72 hours after the impact that caused the whiplash injury. And the pain and discomfort can last for months, even years.

An article in the British Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine stated that “chiropractic is the only proven effective treatment in chronic cases” of whiplash injury. The article reported the results of a study in which 26 out of 28 patients with chronic whiplash syndrome benefitted from chiropractic care.

The authors also noted that “conventional treatment of patients with whiplash is disappointing.”

The goal of chiropractic care is to return neck joints affected by whiplash to their normal position to relieve stress on affected nerves and strain on affected muscles. For best results, and to avoid the formation of scar tissue and unnecessary pain, you should make an appointment to come in for an examination as soon as possible after a whiplash injury.

walking

Getting plenty of exercise can help alleviate stress.

Chronic stress (emotional, physical and chemical) can affect your nervous system’s ability to function correctly, leading to an increased risk for illness and pain. And… when you’re under stress, your muscles get tense and tighten, especially the muscles in your neck and back.

So what can you do about stress-related back pain?

• Learn how to relax muscles through stretching, take “stretch” breaks at work, walk around your building during break or lunch
• Exercise to release stress and endorphins, those “feel good” brain chemicals – brisk walking, cycling, swimming – anything that increases your heart rate and gets you moving is beneficial
• Eat healthy meals – avoid empty calories, sugary snacks and comfort foods that pack on the weight and offer little in terms of nutrition
• Write down your thoughts or talk to a professional counselor – getting the stress out, on paper or in person, helps to relieve stress
• Treat yourself to a massage to ease tense muscles
• Learn to say “no” to anything that will further complicate your life, causing additional stress
• Get plenty of rest – it’s hard to deal with the stress that causes chronic back pain when you’re not well rested

And by all means, make sure you’re staying up to date with your chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractic care helps to “reset” the nervous system so you are better able to fight the negative effects of stress.

osteoporosis

Preventing osteoporosis should start with good habits in childhood - avoid the soda!

Osteoporosis occurs when there is a loss in bone density which causes the bone to become porous and weak, making it easier to sustain a fracture, mostly in the spine, hip or wrist. Postural changes and chronic neck pain are also symptoms.

What are potential risk factors for osteoporosis?

• You’re a woman – in fact it’s estimated that one in two women will experience an osteoporosis-related fracture in her lifetime
• There is a history of osteoporosis in your family – if your mother had it, your risks for osteoporosis are doubled
• You’re Caucasian or Asian
• You have a small or thin body frame
• You smoke and/or drink heavily
• Your diet is poor and lacking in adequate calcium and Vitamin D
• You have low estrogen levels due to menopause or hysterectomy
• You have taken certain medications such as glucocorticoids, thyroid hormones, anticonvulsants, and/or aluminum-containing antacids
• You’ve suffered from an eating disorder
• Your caffeine intake is high (more than 3 cups of coffee, tea or soda a day)
• You live a sedentary lifestyle with very little exercise or physical activity

According to Norman Kettner, DC, DACBR, chair of the department of radiology at Logan College of Chiropractic,

The best treatment for osteoporosis is prevention, and that’s equivalent to pediatric care. The simplest tools can prevent osteoporosis – a lifestyle that focuses on nutrition and exercise. Any member of a family who walks down the aisle of the grocery store and picks up Coca-Cola instead of bananas is having an effect on the osteoporosis patients of the future. Lifestyle modifications are so intrinsic to prevention that it’s not enough to speak to a parent, or to a teenager. It really has to be leveraged through the whole family.

It’s never too late to prevent or to slow the progression of osteoporosis!

burnout

Burnout can make the simplest tasks unbearably difficult.

The word “burnout” was first used by Herbert Freudenberger in his 1974 book, Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement. He defined the term as “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.”

What are some symptoms of burnout? If you suffer from burnout, you might just experience:

• Physical Exhaustion – You feel drained of all physical energy, barely able to get out of bed every morning to face the world
• Emotional Exhaustion – Life is, well, too hard. You’re irritable and more easily frustrated and you’re suffering from a definite lack of motivation
• Lowered Immune System Response – You’re often sick – headaches, body aches, colds, flu-like symptoms can result from burnout stress
• Lack of Interest/Personal Investment in Work – You arrive late to work, you call out sick, your relationships with your boss and co-workers are strained and there are frequent conflicts
• Withdrawal from Personal Relationships – You have less interest in personal relationships; they’re just too much effort. You no longer have fun in any relationships and you have no patience with people
• Behavioral Changes – Maybe you’re abusing alcohol, food or drugs and isolating from others. Maybe your work or family responsibilities are too much of a bother or you’re becoming increasingly frustrated with everything and everyone around you
• Let’s face it – experiencing burnout is like resigning from life – you have no drive and no energy to invest in anything or anyone.
• What can you do to recover from burnout? Slow down and take some time for yourself to rest, relax and reflect. Let go of any unnecessary commitments that are a burden. Lean on loved ones or professionals for the emotional support you need during this difficult time. Try to discover what’s not working in your life. Are you suffering from a lack of balance between family and work time? Do you need to delegate more on the job? Are you missing out on something you’d really like to do?

Remember that burnout is triggered by your reaction to stress. One of the best ways to manage physical, chemical and emotional stress is to obtain regular chiropractic care. Chiropractic adjustments relieve many of the results of chronic stress on your body; this allows you to adapt better and it helps keep your immune system in tip-top shape too!

worry

Worrying about what might be takes energy and focus from your present life and causes stress that can lead to a host of health problems.

Worry leads to stress and stress takes its toll on your body. How? By breaking it down. By affecting your nervous system. By making you sick… literally. In fact, the stress caused by worrying can actually kill you or, at the very least, shorten your lifespan and lead to chronic neck pain, back pain and headaches. Is this really any way to live? Hardly.

So what can you do about it? Why not try some of these suggestions:

• Decide what you can do about your worry right here and right now. Is it in your control to do anything about it? No? Then move on and let life take its course – as it will – in God’s time.
• It’s okay to plan ahead, but don’t expect anything or worry about outcomes that might occur as a result of your planning. Move on to the next task at hand and do your best to rest easy about it for the time being.
• Don’t sit and daydream, conjuring up “worst-case scenarios.” It’s completely counterproductive and a waste of time and energy that could be used in more constructive ways.
• Recognize your human limitations and the things over which you have little or no control. Let the Power that be, who has a much broader perspective than you, take care of it.
• Do not procrastinate. Adrenaline rushes really don’t feel all that great and no, you don’t do your best work under pressure because, well, you’re under pressure which equals stress!
• Don’t lie in bed, either in the morning or during the night, allowing your worries to control your thoughts and keep you either from sleeping or getting up. Get up and do something constructive that either makes you tired or starts your engine (how about some exercise?).
• When approaching a project, don’t look at it as a whole, insurmountable amount of work. Break it down into manageable pieces that allow you to see results as you go along.
• Worry only allows you to hold your own private pity party, feeling powerless and sorry for yourself. Afterward you still have to face whatever it was you didn’t want to confront.

Keep in mind that chiropractic care helps your body deal with the stress that results from worry. So, stay on track with your appointments and remember that 95% of what you worry about never happens, and the rest you rarely have control over – so stop worrying and start living!

newspaper

Picking up the newspaper didn't cause your back pain!

Many people with sudden, acute back pain think, “But gosh, I didn’t even do anything!”

What many folks don’t know, or don’t understand, is that it’s not always a case of what you did five minutes ago, or what you did yesterday, or even what you did last week that’s causing the current problem; it’s more a case of “the straw broke the camel’s back,” no pun intended!

Sometimes it’s chronic stress that wreaks havoc on your nervous system and finally causes your back to “go out” or a “pain in your neck” because of the strain of carrying the weight of all that stress on your back and neck.

Or maybe it’s some underlying long-term health problem that you’ve failed to address that finally manifests itself in pain of some sort that forces you to look at the real cause of the symptom (pain).

So, you walk outside to pick up the newspaper and you feel a sharp pain in your lower back. But picking up the newspaper certainly didn’t cause that!

Let’s use an everyday example to demonstrate. You go to the local eatery and put your purchase on your bank debit card. All of a sudden, bells and whistles go off because you didn’t have enough in your account to cover that charge. It’s not this charge that “broke the bank,” it’s all the money you spent before this purchase and the fact that you didn’t properly manage your account in the first place that put you in this predicament. Now, you’re faced with overdraft charges, embarrassment and the inconvenience of having to deal with the situation.

It’s the same with your health… ignore it and it will find a way to let you know you’re overlooking something.

The best way to stay on top of things so you don’t wind up “over spent” is to stay on schedule with your chiropractic adjustments, eat healthy foods, sleep at least eight hours each night, and learn how to manage your stress (exercise, yoga, meditation, a relaxing hobby, etc.)

high heels

Is the look worth the consequences?

You’re all dressed up and ready to go out to work. Or a night on the town. Or on a fancy dinner date. And you’re wearing the one accessory that pulls the entire look together – your nosebleed-high heels that give you that long, lean, leggy look.

Nice. Now how about the damage those heels are doing to the rest of your body, or is glamour the only thing you care about? Shoes and women… perfect together, just as long as the heels aren’t too high.

High heels may look nice, but oh – the problems they cause! In terms of your feet, they either cause or aggravate conditions such as corns, calluses, hammertoes, ingrown toenails, bunions and even stress fractures in your toes.

And what about back pain? Think about it, high heels tilt your entire foot forward, increasing the normal forward curve of your back and causing your pelvis to tilt forward. Essentially, wearing high heels throws your entire body off its center of gravity and, therefore, off balance. Think of the long-term effect this has on your body if you wear heels to work each day and then go out at night!

Dr. Gerard Clum, president of Life West College of Chiropractic and spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, states that the “dangers associated with wearing high heels affect the entire body, particularly the knee, hip, and back. The abnormal weight-bearing and stressful posture induced by high heels can strain both the low back and the neck, not to mention the foot, ankle and knee.” There are enough causes of neck pain without adding to it with high heels!

The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress has issued the following recommendations for women who wear high heels:

• Don’t wear high heels more than two hours a day. If you must wear heels, carry a pair of flat shoes to change into.
• Compromise heel height to less than two inches.

If you’ve been wearing heels for years, you’ve probably already experienced some of their negative effects. Chiropractic care can certainly help to address some of the detrimental spinal effects of wearing high heels, but, if you really want to make a difference, then the rest is up to you.

So why not ditch the high heels and go barefooted or flat-footed to maintain proper balance and improve your posture and your health! After all, isn’t a healthy body a lot more “glamorous” than one that is damaged by a clothing accessory that is completely unnecessary?