Daily Health Update for July 13 2021 by Toronto Chiropractor Dr. David Koivuranta in Davisville.

Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, you enjoyed the start of your week, looking forward to the rest of the week coming up, including your Tuesday today. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update. It's Tuesday, July 13th, 2021. Gonna look at 6 areas of health and wellness. Somewhere around this video you can read through all 6 areas. If you would like a copy or you have any questions, you can call us here at the clinic, DM us on social, or send us an email. We would be happy to help you out. Not gonna treat that diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, the reason we share these areas of health and wellness news aren't always about the conditions and the results and what they find out about those conditions and how they relate to our lifestyle and the choices that we can make, as well as sometimes the, the options we don't have because of genetics and other components. But it simply encourages us to realize that some of the fundamental choices we make each day in our health and wellness can have a good impact, and it should motivate us, if not inspire us to keep making those good decisions and head us in the right direction. And for those of us who have or are presently facing those challenges, it will hopefully motivate us to know that we can get better. There is room for improvement, and all that research and literature out there, as well as all the anecdotal advice and, um, opinions and options that people present, there is some merit. But as a consumer, it's not always cut and dry, and you do want to try and research and get some help to customize, individualize, and personalize the approach for you so you can work towards what you want. So it's good to be in control of your health. The rest of us are here to support that journey. So we hope the Daily Health Update can do that for you. So for example, today in Environmental Health, June 2021, talks about exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and obesity risk in babies. That may or may not sound interesting. However, if you think about the concept that we get exposed to some things every day that our body has to deal with, and depending on how well it can deal with those things, there may or may not be an impact on our quality of life and health, and/or the health and quality of life of those around us, including our children when they're born. So here, using data from the Mother's Milk Study, researchers report that increased exposure to prenatal ambient air pollution is linked to greater changes in weight and body fat during the first 6 months of life. The researchers recommend that expectant mothers take extra precautions to reduce their exposure to air pollution by closing windows on days when the ozone is high, avoiding exercising outdoors when air pollution is high, and keeping clear of activities alongside alongside busy roads. Some things that we may not always consider, but even if we're not expecting and we're just looking at our overall health, we do know we simply need clean air. And our tissues and our cells rely on that clean air to do what they do every day in operating as a tissue, as an organ, as a gland in our body, but also to help it repair and heal and maintain itself. So keep getting that fresh air as best you can, and when you can't, try to avoid too much exposure to the bad air. All right, and the same can be said about our nutrition. The same can be said about our activity levels. There's a healthy amount that we want to engage in or get exposed to. So here on the nutrition side, again, as an example, in the journal Hypertension, June 2021, they looked at how diet choices can lower the risk for peripheral arterial disease. It's a disease that occurs when plaques build up on the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood to Body. A review of data from the Women's Health Initiative found that a diet pattern characterized by a high intake of legumes, dietary fiber, and vegetable protein, along with a low intake of unprocessed red meat, processed meat, and sugar-sweetened beverages, is associated with a significantly reduced risk for peripheral artery disease. So you may not be interested in peripheral artery disease, you may not have peripheral artery disease or know someone who does, but the concept of how our nutritional choices play a role in these different conditions, conditions should encourage us and motivate us to know that nutrition really does matter and we're in control of that choice and we can exercise that choice every day. All right, the report from Children, June 2021, looks at exercise in early pregnancy and how it may help develop motor skills and motor development in children or kids. A study that included 70 mother-child pairs found that meeting physical activity guidelines during early pregnancy is associated with more advanced early motor development in children. So that's an interesting correlation that what we do while we're carrying this child to conception actually has an impact perhaps on its desire, its, its trends, its tendencies when it's born. So good to have that activity in our lives for sure. The Journal of— oh, sorry, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 2020, looked at math and the brain. Though the nature of the relationship is not yet understood, researchers have observed that teenagers with greater math proficiency have higher brain levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid, a neurotransmitter that's important for cognition, regulating behavior, and managing stress. So with mental health and wellness, something that we often look at as well, and when it comes to cognitive decline especially, one of the things that we just don't want to have happen to our health and wellness especially in the later stages of life. We want to keep engaging our brain in a positive way, and, uh, those who do things with numbers seem to have some positive benefits. So challenging yourself with puzzles and trying to read and learn new things is always a good idea. Dietitians of Canada, June 2020, looked at how to prevent metabolic syndrome. That's a cluster of conditions that includes obesity, high blood pressure, problematic cholesterol, impaired metabolic function, and excessive waist circumference that together increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. To reduce one's risk for metabolic syndrome, the Dietitians of Canada suggests the following steps: lose weight, eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and lean meats, limit deep-fried foods, sugary beverages, and processed foods, get at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily, and avoid or quit smoking. All very good advice. So metabolic syndrome may not be something that you grasp or have an interest in or have heard about or learned about, but it is a contributing factor to some of the leading detractors in quality of life and some of our chronic health dis— uh, conditions in North America. So those things that we probably know about that we shouldn't be doing, we want to avoid, and include those things that we've heard are probably good for us, especially when it comes to our diet, our— and our activity levels. Okay, finally, uh, tension-type headaches. Not fun. The Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, April 2021, looked at a study that included 45 tension-type headache patients and have found that addressing trigger points in the neck muscles and improving cervical posture are both effective approaches for managing tension-type headaches, especially when done together. So many manual practitioners will look at the muscles, joints, nerves, and other connective and soft tissues that are involved around the neck and head. And when you work out those trigger points and you improve how they're sitting and moving, it can often help with the intensity, duration, frequency, and sometimes even eliminate those tension type and even other types of headaches. So if you or someone you know suffers with those headaches, good to get checked, try some treatment. And unlike some things in the medical and healthcare world where you do it once and you expect the benefit, sometimes improving some of the conditions that we've grown into or we've had for a while don't necessarily get better in one treatment. It's great if they do, but quite often even if they're better in one treatment, you feel better, it doesn't mean that they've been be fixed. But sometimes following a treatment plan, which doesn't have to be onerous or long or some huge commitment or obligation, but just doing enough to really help your body work better, can help keep those conditions from coming back. So find someone who you feel could be of benefit, and don't stop looking until you keep improving different aspects of what might be contributing to your health challenges, until you get as good as you would like to get, because your health is worth it. Alright, that's your Daily Health Update for Tuesday. A little bit of extra motivation, inspiration to get you working towards keeping yourself well, and we hope you'll be back tomorrow for the next Daily Health Update. We'll keep feeding you some good information for those healthy choices you're trying to make every day. Otherwise, enjoy yourself, stay well, and we'll see you soon. Take care.