Dr Beecher’s August 5 Weekly Chiropractic Newsletter
To download Dr. Beecher’s Weekly Newsletter, please click here!
WEEKLY HEALTH NEWS UPDATE
Week of Monday, August 5th, 2013
Mental Attitude: A Happy Marriage. People in happy marriages live less “in sickness” and enjoy more of life “in health.” Couples in positive marital relationships sustain health over the long run. Those with higher marital conflict are more likely to report poor health. The implication is that marital conflict is a risk factor for poor health. Couples who fight or frequently argue should seek professional help to reduce their conflict because it is affecting their health. Happily married spouses encourage one another to stay current on doctor’s appointments, sleep better, drink less alcohol, and participate more in healthy activities. In a happy marriage, when spouses have a bad day, they’re more likely to support each other and empathize with each other. This support reduces stress and helps buffer against a decline in health. Journal of Marriage and Family, June 2013
Health Alert: Tobacco Control! Tobacco control measures put in place in 41 countries between 2007 and
2010 will prevent some 7.4 million premature deaths by 2050. These policies can lead to other benefits such as fewer adverse birth outcomes related to maternal smoking (including low birth weight), reduced healthcare costs, and increased productivity due to less smoking-related disease. World Health Organization, July 2013
Diet: Fish Oil DHA. Chronic inflammation is a major factor in a wide range of health issues from arthritis to cardiovascular disease, and DHA (found in fish oil) is known to temper this problem. Researchers found that macrophages (a type of white blood cell) use DHA to produce “maresins,” which serve as the “switch” that turns inflammation off. The FASEB Journal, July 2013
Exercise: Good Reasons. Exercise improves your mood and helps to increase your overall health awareness.
Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health, 1996
Chiropractic: Drop That Blood Pressure. Patients who had upper thoracic chiropractic adjustments showed statistically significant decreases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Placebo and control groups demonstrated no such changes. Journal of Manipulative Physiological Therapeutics, 1988
Wellness/Prevention: Tea Tree Oil. Treating fungal infections of the nails (onychomycosis) with a cream containing 2% butenafine and 5% tea tree oil cured 80% of patients. Topical application of tea tree oil cream for athlete’s foot (tinea pedis) reduces the symptoms of tinea pedis as effectively as tolnaftate, an over the counter antifungal medication. Australasian Journal of Dermatology, July 2013
Quote: “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.” ~ Thomas A. Edison
This Weekly Health News Update is compliments of Dr. Ward Beecher and Beecher Chiropractic Clinic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at 281-286-1300 or BeecherChiropractic.com .
Dr Beecher’s April 23 Weekly Chiropractic Newsletter
To download Dr. Beecher’s Weekly Newsletter, please click here!
WEEKLY HEALTH NEWS UPDATE
Week of Monday, April 23rd, 2012
Mental Attitude: Get Your Sleep! Older adults with poor sleep habits have an altered immune system response to stress that may increase their risk for mental and physical health problems. Stress leads to significantly larger increases in a marker of inflammation in poor sleepers compared to good sleepers; a marker associated with poor health outcomes and death. Poor sleepers report more depressive symptoms, more loneliness and more global perceived stress relative to good sleepers. As people age, a gradual decline in the immune system occurs, along with an increase in inflammation. Heightened inflammation increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other illnesses, as well as psychiatric problems. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, March 2012
Health Alert: Slow Down — You Move Too Fast? People who are considered ambitious, attend the best colleges and universities, have prestigious careers and earn high salaries don’t necessarily lead more successful lives. Ambition has its positive effects (in terms of career success, it certainly does) but ambitious people are only slightly happier than their less- ambitious counterparts and they actually live somewhat shorter lives.
Journal of Applied Psychology, March 2012
Diet: Fish Oil. Six weeks of supplementation with fish oil significantly increased lean mass and decreased fat mass in test subjects. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, October 2010
Exercise: Good Reasons. Exercise helps you maintain proper muscle balance, reduces the rate and severity of medical complications associated with hypertension, helps alleviate menstrual symptoms and lowers your heart rate response to submaximal physical exertion. Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health, 1996
Chiropractic: Adjustment or Microdiskectomy for Sciatica? 60% of patients with sciatica (symptoms of unilateral lumbar radiculopathy secondary to lumbar disk herniation at L3-4, L4-5, or L5-S1) who had failed other medical management (patients must have failed at least 3 months of nonoperative management including treatment with analgesics, lifestyle modification, physiotherapy, massage therapy, and/or acupuncture) benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention. JMPT, October 2010
Wellness/Prevention: Dark Chocolate Good For The Heart. A flavonoid called epicatechin, found in dark chocolate, enhances mitochondria structure in people with advanced heart failure and type 2 diabetes. Mitochondria are cellular structures that provide the energy a cell requires in order to move, divide, and contract. Both heart failure and type 2 diabetes impair these cells, resulting in abnormalities in skeletal muscle. In individuals with diabetes and heart failure, these abnormalities in the heart and skeletal muscle cause decreased functional capacity, resulting in difficulty walking even short distances, shortness of breath, and a lack of energy.
Clinical and Translational Science, March 2012
Quote: “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” ~ Albert Einstein
This Weekly Health News Update is compliments of Dr. Ward Beecher and Beecher Chiropractic Clinic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at 281-286-1300 or www.BeecherChiropractic.Com.
Dr Beecher’s October 24 Weekly Chiropractic Newsletter
To download Dr. Beecher’s Weekly Newsletter, please click here!
WEEKLY HEALTH NEWS UPDATE
Week of Monday, October 24th, 2011
Mental Attitude: Don’t Look At Me! Depressed people tend to avoid eye contact in social situations and in experimental settings, whereas happy people actively seek eye contact. Sad people avoiding eye contact may lead to them shunning certain social situations. Although this may reduce anxiety caused by the situation itself, it may actually increase social isolation and deepen their already depressed mood. British Journal of Psychology, Sept 2011
Health Alert: Hospital Staff Carry MRSA Superbug. 60% of doctors’ and 65% of nurses’ uniforms carry dangerous bacteria. In a 2009 report, rates of postoperative sepsis, or bloodstream infections, increased by 8%; postoperative catheter-associated urinary tract infections increased by 3.6%; and rates of selected infections due to medical care increased by 1.6%. 1 in 5 security cards carried by hospital doctors were contaminated with a variety of pathogenic bacteria, including the superbug MRSA, which kills thousands every year.
Health and Human Services Department, 2009
Diet: Ginger Extract. Whole ginger extract has promising cancer-preventing activity in prostate cancer. Ginger extract had significant effects in stopping the growth of cancer cells, and inducing cell death in a spectrum of prostate cancer cells. Animal studies revealed the extract did not show significant toxicity to normal tissues, such as bone marrow. Research showed tumor regression up to 60%. Humans would have to consume about 3 1/2 ounces of whole ginger extract a day to get the benefits. British Journal of Nutrition, Aug 2011
Exercise: Good Reasons. Exercise reduces vulnerability to various cardiac dysrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms), improves the likelihood of survival from a myocardial infarction (heart attack), and helps overcome jet lag.
Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health, 1996
Chiropractic: What A Headache. “Cervical migraine is the type of headache most frequently seen in general practice and also the most frequently misinterpreted. It is usually erroneously diagnosed as classical migraine, tension headache, [or] vascular headache. Such patients have usually received an inadequate treatment and have often become neurotic and drug-dependent.” (Note: Manipulation is effective in patients with cervicogenic headaches.) Ragnar Frykholm, Neurosurgeon, 1972
Wellness/Prevention: Fish Oil For A Healthy Mind. Researchers found positive associations between fish oil supplements and cognitive function, as well as differences in brain structure between users and non-users of fish oil supplements. The findings suggest possible benefits of fish oil supplements on brain health and aging.
International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease
Quote: “A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” ~ Harry S. Truman
This Weekly Health News Update is compliments of Dr. Ward Beecher and Beecher Chiropractic Clinic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at 281-286-1300 or www.BeecherChiropractic.Com.
