Pain Relief Chiropractic

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” ~ Albert Einstein

“Just rub this wonder cream on and your face and all your wrinkles will instantly disappear!” We’ve all seen the commercials, and the results they show are pretty sensational. Isn’t it funny how that “wonder cream” is usually from some accidental discovery or from some magical plant in the rainforest?

What happens when you buy that wonder cream?  Yeah, that’s right…  NOTHING!  Except your wallet is $19.95 lighter (plus shipping and handling).

So, instead of all that fantasy stuff, let’s talk about the real world and something you can eat that is good for you and might help slow the aging process.

That Food Is A Fruit &

It Is Called The Avocado

Why is the avocado so great?  First, it has a very high level of oleic acid.  Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fat that aids in fat metabolism.

Avocados also have high levels of lutein, zeaxanthin and Vitamin E.  Lutein and zeaxanthin are carotenoid antioxidants.  According to the American Optometric Association:

“Many studies have shown that lutein and zeaxanthin reduce the risk of chronic eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts. 

“Lutein and zeaxanthin are carotenoids that filter harmful high-energy blue wavelengths of light and act as antioxidants in the eye, helping protect and maintain healthy cells.”

Avocados also contain ionic potassium and folate.  Potassium – Sodium ratios are very important to keep your heart healthy and functioning properly.

If you eat vegetables (and you should), here’s another great thing about avocados…

According to Natural News, most vegetables contain high amounts of carotenoid based antioxidants. “Studies have shown that these antioxidants are lipophilic (fat-loving) and are absorbed best in the body when combined with a healthy fat such as oleic acid.”

A study published in the Journal of Nutrition in March 2005 showed that adding avocados to salad increased absorption of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lutein 7.2, 15.3, and 5.1 times higher, respectively, than the average amount of these carotenoids absorbed when avocado-free salad was eaten.

In other words, eating avocados in your salad and with vegetables is (most likely) a very good thing!

What Type Of Avocados

Should You Eat?

Both Florida (the big avocados) and Hass avocados are good for your digestive tract because they contain soluble and insoluble fiber.  However, Hass avocados have higher concentrations of lutein, zeaxanthin and some other nutrients.

Can Avocados Prevent Skin Wrinkling?

Some think avocados can prevent wrinkles and skin aging.  It is believed avocados are great anti-aging foods because they contain D-manno-heptuloe sugar. This sugar has been shown to improve skin epidermis by boosting collagen formation.

Avocados contain antioxidants that may reduce age spots, decrease inflammation and help scars to heal.

“Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

A study recently published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition investigated the association of regular tea intake (greater than 3 times per week for greater than 6 months) with risk of digestive system cancers.

The study was based on middle-aged and older Chinese women.

Results: Women who consumed ≥150g tea/mo (2–3 cups/day) had a 21% reduced risk of digestive system cancers.  The association was found primarily for colorectal and stomach/esophageal cancers.

Want To Add 4.5 Years To Your Life?

A recent study published in the medical journal PLoS One pooled self-reported data on leisure time physical activities and Body Mass Index (BMI) scores from nearly 650,000 individuals over 40 years old. Their goal was to calculate the gain in life expectancy associated with specific levels of physical activity.

A physical activity level equivalent to brisk walking for up to 75 minutes per week was associated with a gain of 1.8 years in life expectancy relative to no leisure time activity.

Even better, having a physical activity level at or above 150 minutes of brisk walking per week was associated with an overall gain of life expectancy of 3.4 – 4.5 years.

In another study, 150 minutes/week of moderate intensity leisure-time physical activity led to a 14% lower coronary heart disease risk compared with those reporting no leisure-time physical activity. Those engaging in the equivalent of 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity leisure-time physical activity had a 20% lower risk.

What does this mean?  Basically, it’s what we have known for quite some time.  Moderate exercise is good and it can, most likely, extend your life.

But, what’s really important is you do not have to go crazy.  Go for a brisk walk several times per week, or every day if you can, and you should see some healthy results.

Obesity Triggers 

Inflammation In Fat Cells

New research says that obesity can trigger inflammation in the fat cells found just under the skin.  This is very bad because inflammation is believed to be linked to both diabetes and heart disease.

In a related study, researchers found no inflammation in the fat of lean individuals while 70% of obese people in the study showed evidence of inflammation-promoting fat and impaired blood vessel function.

No matter what, if you are obese, the odds are against you.  Losing even small amounts of weight can make a big difference in your overall health.

“All misfortune is but a stepping stone to fortune.”  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Have you heard of the term, hangry?  Even if you haven’t, I can almost guarantee you’ve experienced it. According to the Urban Dictionary, the definition of hangry is: “When you are so hungry your lack of food causes you to become angry.”

Here is hangry used in a sentence:  The service in this place stinks!  I ordered my food over an hour ago.  I’m starving and starting to get really hangry!

Come on.  You can admit it…

You’ve Been Hangry!

We all have, and hangry is not a good place to be.  Well, now research is showing how being hungry affects our decision making.

According to an article published by the Max Planck Society, hunger affects not only decision making, but also the perception of risk.

According to the article, “Hungry people are often difficult to deal with. A good meal can affect more than our mood, it can also influence our willingness to take risks. This phenomenon is also apparent across a very diverse range of species in the animal kingdom. Experiments conducted on the fruit fly, Drosophila, by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have shown that hunger not only modifies behavior, but also changes pathways in the brain.”

Studies show that animals are willing to take much more risk depending on how hungry they are.  For example, an animal will only hunt dangerous prey when hungry.  If they are not hungry, they will try their luck getting a meal in a less hazardous way.

That seems pretty obvious, but here’s something that is NOT obvious… and even a little surprising.  One study found that hungry humans took significantly more financial risk than their well-fed colleagues.

One obvious lesson here is…

Never Make Financial

Decisions When You’re Hungry!

Of course, make sure your financial advisor and stock brokers are also well fed.  Maybe call them and make sure they have a good breakfast before they start their work day!  

On a more serious note, it is obvious that blood chemistry is seriously affected by what and when you eat.  Your blood chemistry is extremely important when it comes to both your physical and mental health.

Hangry may seem funny, but when you are hungry, your body is not functioning optimally.

Your muscles and brain are not getting the nutrients they need.  Bad decisions and risk taking are just the tip of the iceberg. Not giving your body the nutrients it needs when it needs them can affect every organ and cell in your body.

Understand this:  If you want to GAIN WEIGHT, being “hangry” is one of the best ways to do it.

Why?  Because weight loss is best accomplished when you keep your blood sugar levels stabilized.  This can be accomplished by eating small portions of the correct foods multiple times throughout the day.  Often times, eating five or more small meals is ideal.

If you have reached the point when you feel hunger, then you are falling behind.  Hunger means your blood sugar levels have already dropped.  (Becoming “hangry” is a whole different level!)

But this does not mean you should eat as much as you want whenever you want.

The answer is to eat the right foods, at the right times, in the right portions.

Portion size is a BIG problem for most people.  But, believe it or not, you can be “tricked” into eating or drinking more  (or less) than you think you are.

Here is how:  You’ve heard the statement, “Everything is relative.”  Well, relative is a HUGE factor when it comes to how much you decide to eat.

There is something called the Delboef illusion.  This illusion occurs when people misjudge the size of identical circles when they are surrounded by larger circles of different sizes.

For example, people will think a circle is smaller if the circle surrounding it is huge and vice versa.

Researchers found that the same illusion applies to plates we eat our food on.

When the same portion of food is served on a very large plate, it seems like less food than when it is served on a small plate.

According to an article published by the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, “For example, in a study conducted at a health and fitness camp, campers who were given larger bowls served and consumed 16% more cereal than those given smaller bowls. Despite the fact that those campers were eating more, their estimates of their cereal consumption were 7% lower than the estimates of the group eating from the smaller bowls. This suggests that not only could large dinnerware cause us to serve and eat more, it can do so without us noticing and trick us into believing we have eaten less.”

The Cornell article also revealed how we can use this optical illusion to our favor.  Here is how:  Serve the vegetables and healthy foods many people do not like on large plates.  The large plate will make the portion look small and easier to eat.  On the contrary, serve bad foods, like desserts, on small plates to make the serving size look bigger.

Want To Stimulate Your Brain

In Just 20 Minutes?

A study recently published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health found that a 20-minute session of yoga improved participants’ speed and accuracy on two measures of brain function associated with the ability to focus and take in, retain, and use new information.  The study had 30 participants, and researchers said they performed significantly better immediately after the yoga practice than after moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise for the same amount of time.

And don’t forget, if you ever have any questions or concerns about your health, talk to us. Contact us with your questions. We’re here to help and don’t enjoy anything more than participating in providing you natural pain relief. (717) 697-1888.

“A well-spent day brings happy sleep.”  ~ Leonardo da Vinci

For many, there is no bigger pain in the entire world than the sound of their alarm clock rousing them from a beautiful, deep slumber.

Do you get up or hit the snooze button?  Are you lazy if you slept eight hours and don’t get up? Well, perhaps not.  New research shows that your desire for more sleep may not come from laziness at all.  It may be genetic. More on that in a moment, but first, how much sleep do you really need?

The amount of sleep your body needs is the amount that results in you feeling fully rested and alert. According to a report by ABC News, if you find yourself sleeping in on weekends, then your body may be catching up on lost sleep time. On one hand, some researchers recommend trying to sleep more during the week to balance out your sleep schedule so you sleep the same number of hours on weekends. A short 25-minute nap in the afternoon can help make up for a sleep deficit during the week. On the other hand, Dr. W. Christopher Winter, medical director of the Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, thinks there’s no harm in sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday morning to make up lost time. But, that may not be such a good idea for some people. We’ll cover that later too…

How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Need?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends adults sleep 7-9 hours per night, teenagers sleep 8.5-9.5 hours per night, and children (ages 5-10 years old) sleep 10-11 hours per night. A review of 16 long-term studies published in the journal Sleep found that both short sleepers (under 7 hours) and long sleepers (over 9 hours) lived shorter lives than those who slept 7-9 hours per night. This may be the basis for the CDC’s 7-9 hour recommendation.

Inadequate sleep can negatively affect your heart, lungs, kidneys, appetite, metabolism, immune system, reaction time, mood, and brain function. People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes (and all the health problems associated with that disease) because inadequate sleep affects insulin sensitivity.

A study of 24,000 Japanese women found those who slept less than six hours a night were more likely to develop breast cancer while a study by Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found men who slept less than six hours a night were at a higher risk for potentially cancerous colorectal polyps.

Another study found lack of sleep might cause relationship problems. This research from the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) found that couples fight more and are less healthy after a bad night’s sleep.  “For the first time, to our knowledge, we can see the process of how the nature, degree, and resolution of conflict are negatively impacted by poor sleep,” said Dr. Serena Chen, a Professor of Psychology at UCB.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you sleep less than seven hours a night but you feel rested and alert when you wake up, that may be fine too. In fact, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco discovered individuals with a mutation to the DEC2 gene can function well on five or six hours a night, with no apparent adverse effects.

Oversleeping May Be Just As

Bad As Not Getting Enough Sleep!

Interestingly enough, sleeping over nine hours a night can lead to many of the same problems as sleeping too little. Long sleepers are at risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, back pain, depression, and heart disease. If you tend to wake up before your alarm clock and you feel rested, get up and start your day. Forcing yourself to sleep in may do you more harm than good.

If it’s true that some people may genetically need less sleep, then the opposite is likely true as well: some of us may be genetically predisposed to needing more sleep than the “average” person. So, if you need more than nine hours of sleep to feel rested and alert, that may be okay.

Irregular Sleep Patterns May Be A Problem Too!

People with irregular work schedules (that, in turn, lead to irregular sleep patterns) may also experience health problems. One study recently found that females working shift patterns are associated with an increase risk of menstrual disruption and subfertility. The study collected data on 119,345 women from 1969 – 2013 and found that those working shifts (alternating shifts, evenings and nights) had a 33% higher rate of menstrual disruption than those working regular hours, and an 80% increased rate of subfertility.

In a nutshell, you must get the proper amount of sleep to be healthy. One of the biggest things we can take from this study is that the proper amount of sleep is individual.  It is not “8 hours.”  We are all different, and you must figure out what the proper amount of sleep is for you.

We all know people who can sleep five hours and wake up with a full charge. Five hours might be optimal for them, and that is awesome.  However, you might need eight, nine, or even more.

If you’re the type who has trouble getting restful sleep, here are some tips:

Regular exercise is often advised to improve sleep. Some experts recommend you try exercising earlier in the day, others think the evening before bed is a better idea. See what works best for you. Stress and anxiety can affect sleep and exercise has been shown to help relieve stress and anxiety, even if you don’t really want to work out.

Eating before bed may trigger acid reflux or an upset stomach that can hinder sleep. However, consuming a relaxing food or beverage (like a warm glass of milk) may help you fall asleep.

Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and smoking before bed as they can disrupt sleep patterns.

Take a hot bath, shower, or sauna before bed. This will raise your body temperature and cooling off facilitates sleep. The temperature drop from getting out of the bath signals to your body that “it’s time for bed.” On the same note, keep the room cool. Lower temperatures help with sleep.

Get out of bed. If you are having trouble falling asleep, get up and do something else. Don’t linger in bed and fret about not being able to fall asleep because it could develop into an even bigger sleeping problem.

Turn off the lights. Complete darkness (or as close to it as possible) is best. Even the tiniest bit of light in the room can disrupt your internal clock and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin. Cover your windows with blackout shades or drapes.

Consider a “sound machine.” Listen to the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to drown out upsetting background noise and soothe you to sleep.

Try to sleep a consistent number of hours each night. While it may be okay to catch up on sleep during the weekends, if you can’t sleep Sunday night because you slept in on Sunday morning, that can be a problem.

Increase your melatonin. If you can’t increase levels naturally with exposure to bright sunlight in the daytime and absolute complete darkness at night, consider supplementation.

Last but not least, health conditions like back pain or neck pain can interfere with a good night’s sleep so make sure to get adjusted regularly to help keep your body functioning optimally so you can sleep restfully.

Don’t forget, if you ever have any questions or concerns about your health, talk to us. Contact us with your questions. We’re here to help and don’t enjoy anything more than participating in providing you natural pain relief.