Health

Nice weather inspires an extra mile or two. Cheering at an interval class leads to setting a new personal record with kettlebell swings. An extra hour gardening means the job gets done sooner. Trying kickboxing for the first time? Push it to keep up with the class! Who wants to be left behind? 

The cold sucks. Ok, I said it. In case that first sentence was not clear enough, I am not a fan of the cold. In fact, I don’t like it at all. It just makes me want to grow a beard and hibernate. In college, I used to grow a beard every November through March and try to stay indoors as much as possible during that time period. When I braved the cold to attend classes (apparently, most teachers did not want to hibernate like I did), it was always as quickly as possible. School, home, school, home. Extra sleep during those months was always welcome.  Strange hibernation and facial hair habits aside, sleep is a very important part of our lives.

Even NASA agrees that the stuffy air in your home and office can be detrimental to your health. They have done the research to provide us with a list of the most air cleansing plants for you, your family and even your pets. 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air is often more than 10 times more polluted than outdoor air. Most of us are in our offices or homes most hours of the day, hopefully with good insulation from the winter’s chill. Unfortunately, building materials, paints, finishes, furnishings and carpets release harmful chemicals into our insulated space. Other toxic chemicals are emitted from cleaning products, pesticides, and hazardous household supplies. Do you really know what the cleaning company uses?

It Does A Body Good. 

Eating for beauty benefits doesn’t mean a lifetime sentence of salad (although leafy greens do wonders for your body and your skin). Instead of feeling guilty after getting “wasted on chocolate”, you get excited, (as long as you choose the right kind of chocolate) because you’ll be reaping some beauty benefits and health rewards for treating yourself!

Some chocolate can deliver significant beauty benefits. However, the only chocolate that can supply these benefits is dark chocolate having at least 70% cocoa content. Unfortunately, most treats found in the candy aisle and conveniently located upon check-out at grocery stores and pharmacies are the wrong kind of chocolate. Dark chocolate, the good stuff, is lower in sugar and high in cocoa. It’s super-rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that nourish our bodies. For example, cocoa contains naturally occurring plant substance called; flavonoids which can contribute to a healthy heart and help reduce the risk of stroke. Dark chocolate also relaxes blood vessels, which in turn can reduce blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels. Several studies even suggest that it may also be a “feel-good” treat that increases production of mood-enhancing neurotransmitters and improved blood flow to the brain.

Twitter. Pinterest. Instagram. Facebook. Trivia Crack. Fantasy football. Email. Text messaging. Many other things. We use our phones for almost everything but phone calls. All of these things involve staring at the screen, usually with some scrolling or tapping thrown in for good measure.

In our sports clinic, my friend and fellow PT, Mark, states it best. He sees a patient sitting in our waiting chairs, hunched over and cramped up like a wadded up napkin after dinner (hopefully without the meatball stains). The question that follows is as perfect as the answer he gives to his own question. He asks them: "Do you have back pain (or neck or shoulder pain)? No, not yet? Ok, you will."

Have you ever accomplished anything great with an inconsistent effort? Unless failure is considered a great achievement, you probably haven't. You must exercise consistently to get the results you want! It blows my mind how many people don't even try to be consistent with their diet and complain about not seeing results. Even the best programs are ineffectual if they are not followed on a consistent basis.

Women are sometimes afraid at the idea of adding muscle due to their fear of becoming "bulky." Relax; it's a little harder to add that kind of muscle mass than you think.

Celeste was expecting. She felt great and welcomed each miraculous change. The baby moved easily into the head-down position. She walked comfortably with a steady confidence throughout her last trimester. The birth went smoothly and as desired. Her midwife commented on the joy of assisting in such a wonderful delivery experience. Her recovery quickly unfolded.

How close is your vision of a "normal" pregnancy and delivery to the above? First of all, IT IS POSSIBLE! With the right game plan, the odds of a "perfect" pregnancy and delivery can be greatly improved. The purpose of this article is to introduce the many, but often little-known, benefits of chiropractic care for the expecting mother and developing fetus.

If  you’ve watched television or listened to the radio lately, chances are you’ve heard an advertisement for a pharmaceutical product or medical treatment.  We have become a nation accustomed to popping pills for everything from anxiety to arthritis.   And while traditional medicine is a necessary part of combating illness, some individuals are seeking alternate forms of treatment.  One alternative therapy is Reiki, an ancient Japanese technique for relaxation and stress reduction which also promotes healing.  While not intended for diagnosis or treatment of disease, Reiki can be utilized to complement and even augment traditional Western medicine.

I'm cramped in a New Jersey transit train seat like it's a sardine can. The train home from NYC is packed with a holiday weekend crowd. Some of them are returning Santas from SantaCon -- my personal favorite Santa sighting was a portly young man who was running down the street in Santa pants, boots, and hat while yelling into his cell phone. Somewhere along his inebriated meandering, he lost his shirt and was content to race through the 35 degree December weather while half naked. Ah, New York is a magical place at the holidays. Besides the people watching, the department store window displays and the Rockefeller Tree are personal favorites of mine.

While in NYC this weekend, we walked everywhere. Sure, the walking was punctuated with an occasional subway ride and lots of momentary pauses to look at rollerblading drunk Santas, but we were in NYC so we walked. How else to take in the sights?

Please tell us what we are eating!

Proponents of genetic engineering (GE)—whereby DNA from unrelated species is combined to produce improved or novel organisms—insist that the benefits of increased crop yields and less agricultural waste outweigh the potential risks, but many environmental and public health advocates aren't convinced.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), one risk of GE is that our new "frankencrops" could become invasive, toxic to wildlife, or dangerous in other as-yet unknown ways. "But the most damaging impact of GE in agriculture so far is the phenomenon of pesticide resistance," reports UCS, adding that millions of acres of American farmland are infested by weeds that have become resistant to Monsanto's popular herbicide glyphosate (known to most by its trade name Roundup). "Overuse of Monsanto's 'Roundup Ready' trait, which is engineered to tolerate the herbicide, has promoted the accelerated development of resistance in several weed species."

Maggie saw Jim kick the family dog. His foot firmly connected with Grover's belly, sending him into a humiliating skid on the kitchen floor. The dog yelped and peed on the floor but he wasn't injured. Maggie was shaking with anger and a little bit of fear. It was bad enough that Jim had been yelling at her, but now he was abusing their dog? He would pay for his lapse in judgment, but right now she just wanted to get away from him. She stormed out of the kitchen and slammed the door to her bedroom.

Maggie saw Jim kick the family dog. His foot firmly connected with Grover's belly, sending him into a humiliating skid on the kitchen floor. The dog yelped and peed on the floor but he wasn't injured. Maggie was shaking with anger and a little bit of fear. It was bad enough that Jim had been yelling at her, but now he was abusing their dog? He would pay for his lapse in judgment, but right now she just wanted to get away from him. She stormed out of the kitchen and slammed the door to her bedroom.

Noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews recently authored a book about the current injury epidemic in youth sports.

Reading this book reinforced some beliefs about what I see daily in my clinic. Pre-teen and teenage athletes are constantly coming into the clinic with sports related injuries. They trickle in during the summer like drips of water from a leaky faucet. By midway through fall and into the spring, there is a steady stream of young athletes who do not make it through their seasons. Some of these injuries are traumatic, some are not. Almost all have one thing in common. The athletes who sustain them seem to be the ones who play a single sport all year round. This leads me to the topic of this month's article. What happened to the offseason?

I had the most amazing fortieth birthday party. Ever. There were fireworks and not one, but two visits by the local police. People from all over my life were there. There was dancing to Duran Duran, Run DMC and Billy Idol. The last thing on my mind that day was my mortality.

Myth #1: Breast cancer is one disease.
There are many forms of breast cancer based in part on genetic characteristics, and each form of breast cancer has a different prognosis. Tumor testing can help determine the appropriate medicine and timing of treatment needed to treat the disease most effectively.

When it comes to diabetes mellitus (DM), patients have enough to worry about. Controlling this disease is essential to maintaining the health of one's blood vessels, eyes, limbs, kidneys and numerous other parts of the body. While most patients who are diagnosed with diabetes are aware of the previously mentioned potential complications, many are surprised to hear that their diabetes can impact their oral health.
Diabetic patients report a variety of oral issues, including xerostomia (dry mouth), oral candidiasis, and poor wound healing following dental surgery. However, what dentists notice the most in their patient with poorly controlled DM is a higher prevalence of periodontitis.

Glaucoma is the second most common cause of preventable blindness in the U.S. Approximately 2 million Americans have glaucoma. Another one million do not know they have the disease. With early diagnosis and treatment, the vast majority of people can retain their vision for life. The key is early diagnosis, which can only be obtained by regular, routine eye exams.

In a healthy eye, fluid is constantly being made and drained through a microscopic, drainage canal. When something blocks or prevents this natural drainage, the pressure inside the eye goes up. Glaucoma is often caused by increased pressure that can develop when the fluids in the eye are not draining properly. This condition eventually damages the nerve that connects the eye to the brain (the optic nerve) and leads to loss of vision. In most cases, a person's side vision (peripheral vision) is noticeably affected.

The short answer is yes. In fact, a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reported that approximately 49% of men in the age category of 40-79, with high blood pressure, had erectile dysfunction (ED). To fully explain how this happens, I'm going to pretend that not all of my readers remember the basics of penile anatomy and function that they may have learned during health class in high school...if they were lucky enough to have that. After explaining the basic mechanics of how a penis functions, I can then explain why having your blood pressure in a healthy range is so important for sexual health.

What if the epic training montage from Rocky IV (YouTube it if you haven't seen it) were real life? While we can't all have a song like Hearts on Fire as our personal soundtrack or own an American Flag robe like Apollo Creed's, we can still take some lessons from Rocky's training.

Let's pretend for a minute that this montage is actually a single exercise session. In the aforementioned film clip, Rocky and Ivan Drago are shown performing interval training involving resistance exercise intermixed with bouts of high intensity cardio. This type of high intensity interval training (HIIT) is extremely popular at the moment.

Is it possible that electronics could be an underlying cause for the rise of obesity and Type II Diabetes in the American culture? Though not the sole culprit, the truth is that television, computers, tablets and phones very much contribute to the general decline in aggregate health and weight management. The reason, however, lies far deeper than merely rendering the general population less active. Rather, it has much to do with the colored light emitted from the devices' screens and the resulting negative impact on sleep. Deficiencies in sleep, in turn, handicap not only the body's ability to utilize the energy it stores in fat but also has a profound effect on the amount of fat the body will create, fostering the tendency to gain weight.