The Posture of Happiness

Articles - back pain, body language, daily exercises, happiness, posture - May 28, 2018

When someone’s unhappy, their posture shows it. Body language expresses our mood and attitude. It’s common-sense to know a friend is feeling down when their posture is slumping over. New research shows it’s a two-way street – How you hold your body affects your mental attitude and your state of mind changes how you hold your body.

Posture and Technology

Living with tech means posture can suffer as we sit, type and text for hours each day. Now researchers are finding some really significant health consequences, which is one reason posture is trending. Another is the explosion of ergonomic products from standing desks to upscale mattresses to vibrating shirts and apps to make us look and age better (or just avoid back and neck pain) by standing taller.

Doctors, chiropractors and therapists who treat muscle and joint pain call it an epidemic and say the problem and society’s slump are accelerating. More children are being diagnosed with back pain, and some professionals observe many kids with posture that’s worse than their parents, pointing to a risk for developing bodies. As well as developing minds.

Posture Research

Smart posture habits can make a big difference in mind and body. Studies show self-esteem and mood can be improved by sitting (or standing) tall, with head, torso and hips aligned. When people sit straight, their short-term memory is better, as is their reported alertness, self-esteem and energy level. Improving your body alignment can even energize you, as another study found people deprived of sleep could counter fatigue by holding their posture upright.

The Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry released a study concluding that even people who suffer with depression can improve their mood by improving posture. Hunched over posture is a diagnostic feature of clinical depression, as the person’s body literally folds in to withdraw from life. This postural breakdown with rolled in shoulders is also associated with negative emotions, anxiety, and using more “anger” words in conversation.

Researcher Elizabeth Broadbent and her team found changing people’s posture reduced their reported anxiety and negative emotions. The participants who were made to sit up tall used less negative words. And, they said the word “I” less frequently, which reflects an improvement in the directing of their attention outward.

Here is a good set of daily exercises (courtesy of PostureZone®) that you can follow on the daily basis to improve your posture:

The goal is to stand tall and align your head, torso and pelvis over your feet. As your focus shifts from the ground up, breathe slowly and let your breath guide the motion.

1- Stand Tall and relaxed. NOT STIFF. Relax, and pull your head to the ceiling. Breathe in and out, and then…

2- Ground your Feet: Slowly come up onto your toes, then down. Come up onto your heels and spread your toes apart, then back down. Roll your feet out, and then in. Now, press on all four ‘corners’ to ground your feet as you breathe in and out, and then…

3- Center your Pelvis: Arch your low back and breathe in, then pull your belly in, tuck your pelvis and breathe out. Keep your spine long and head tall as you roll your pelvis back to center. Repeat for another breath.

4- Open your Torso: Lift shoulders up and back as you breathe in, then keep them back as you lower them down and breathe out. Repeat for another slow breath, and then…

5- Lift and level your Head. Look straight ahead as you breathe in, then breathe out and lift the base of your head up (keep the head level and chin slightly tucked) to lengthen your spine. Repeat for another slow, deep breath.

Repeat. Focus on standing taller, as you breathe slowly for each step. Do this 2 or 3 times a day to relieve stress, unfold your posture and brighten your mood.

Apart from these daily exercises, a weekly visit to your chiropractor and physiotherapist can greatly assist you with improving your posture.

Lowering risk of Dementia

Articles - brain health, chiropractor, cognitive impairment, dementia, nutrition specialist - May 28, 2018

The numbers of people with dementia are expected to more than double in 30 years and outpace both heart disease and cancer in terms of cost. Because dementia can take root in the brain years or decades before symptoms appear, you can take action now to avoid becoming part of this skyrocketing statistic.

Today, nearly 15 percent of people aged 71 or older have dementia—almost 4 million people. Experts predict that number will more than double to 9 million people by 2040, costing the country more than $500 billion.

What’s worse is these statistics do not include mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or “pre-dementia,” which accounts for another 22 percent of people over 71.

How to lower your risk of dementia

Some experts say there is no way to prevent dementia, but studies show diet and lifestyle influence brain health. We can use that knowledge to lower the risk for dementia.

For instance, poor diet and lifestyle choices can cause inflammation throughout the body, which ultimately inflames the brain and accelerates the degeneration of brain tissue. It may cause symptoms such as brain fog or a gradual decline in cognition, but the average person will not connect this with an increased risk of dementia later in life.

The good news is you can slow the rate of brain degeneration and lower your risk of dementia with the following tips:

• Ditch the sugar, processed starchy foods, and junk foods. These foods lead to insulin resistance (pre-diabetes) and Type 2 diabetes. The link between a sugar-laden diet and brain degeneration is so strong some researchers call Alzheimer’s “Type 3 diabetes,” a totally diet and lifestyle driven disease. Sugars and processed starches and the insulin surges they create are devastating to brain health.

• Avoid hydrogenated oils (trans fats) found in processed foods, pastries, and many restaurant fried foods. The brain is mostly fat and the fats you eat play a role in its health. Hydrogenated fats are more like plastic than food and research shows eating hydrogenated fats leads to loss of cognitive function and smaller brain volume, evidence of degeneration. Eat healthy fats such as coconut oil, olive oil (never heated), and seafood, and get plenty of omega 3 essential fatty acids. Ask our office how you can do this to lower your risk of dementia.

• Exercise your body and your brain. Exercise has been well documented as a way to boost brain health and lower your risk of dementia. You should engage in both aerobic exercise and weight training for ultimate dementia prevention. You should also exercise your brain with mentally stimulating activities, such as learning new things, reading, writing, playing chess, etc.

For more information on how to lower your risk of Dementia, please see a nutrition and chiropractic specialists at the PRI clinic. This multi-disciplinary team is specifically trained to properly deal with this condition and allow your body to achieve a remarkable improvement in your lifestyle.

Keeogo for Stroke

Articles - brain cells, ischemic stroke, keeogo, stroke, stroke therapy - May 28, 2018

A stroke is a medical emergency. Strokes happen when blood flow to your brain stops. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die. There are two kinds of stroke. The more common kind, called ischemic stroke, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel in the brain. The other kind, called hemorrhagic stroke, is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain. “Mini-strokes” or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), occur when the blood supply to the brain is briefly interrupted.

Symptoms of stroke are

•Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg (especially on one side of the body)

•Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech

•Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes

•Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination

•Sudden severe headache with no known cause

If you have any of these symptoms, you must get to a hospital quickly to begin treatment. Acute stroke therapies try to stop a stroke while it is happening by quickly dissolving the blood clot or by stopping the bleeding. Post-stroke rehabilitation helps individuals overcome disabilities that result from stroke damage.

After stroke, various rehabilitative techniques help people regain function and lifestyle as much as possible. Your MD may offer blood thinners or other pharmaceutical interventions to help decrease the probability of further strokes from happening. Your physical therapist may offer specific rehabilitative exercises to assist you with regaining proper function of your arms and legs.

A recent technological breakthrough offers patients who suffered from stroke vast lifestyle improvements. Without the KeegoTM device, post-stroke patients had a difficult time moving their legs, had to stop when taking stairs from exhaustion, had a difficult time picking up objects from the floor, exerted strenuous effort, when getting up from a chair to walk down the hall. These same patients wearing a KeegoTM device were able to achieve much more fluid movement patterns during several clinical trials. These same patients were able to move quicker from one location to another, were able to promptly walk up or down the stairs, picked up objects from the floor with little effort, and were able to easily sit down, and get up from the seat without propping themselves up with their hands.