In this 10‑minute video, Dr. David Koivuranta of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic delivers a concise health briefing covering six recent research findings. He first discusses a May 2021 American Journal of Critical Care study showing that stressed critical‑care nurses with poor physical or mental health are up to 62% more likely to commit medical errors, but employer support doubles the odds of good health. Next, he cites an April 2021 European Journal of Epidemiology analysis of 50,000 adults linking higher intake of leafy greens and nitrate‑rich vegetables to lower systolic blood pressure and up to a 26% reduction in heart‑disease risk. He then summarizes an American Academy of Family Physicians review outlining exercise’s broad protective effects against early death, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, adverse lipid profiles, metabolic syndrome, several cancers, weight gain, falls, depression, and cognitive decline. The fourth segment references an April 2021 study of 1,400 adolescents indicating that bullying experiences increase the likelihood of violent fantasies, prompting a call for kindness. The fifth portion highlights a May 2021 BMC Medicine UK‑Biobank analysis identifying mid‑life smoking, diabetes, and obesity as risk factors for later‑life dementia, reinforcing lifestyle‑based prevention. Finally, a March 2021 Journal of Medicine review of over 10,000 pharmacists under 40 reveals a 17% prevalence of low‑back pain associated with prolonged standing, older age, and histories of type‑2 diabetes or gout. Dr. Koivuranta weaves these findings into a broader message encouraging personal health responsibility, supportive workplaces, and community well‑being, while offering contact information for the clinic and promising a written follow‑up.
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Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, enjoying your week, having a healthy one as best you can. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update for Thursday, June 3rd, 2021. Gonna look at 6 areas of health and wellness today. Somewhere around this video, you can read through all 6 of those areas. If you'd like a copy, you have questions, or you'd like to get a hold of us otherwise, you can DM us on social, give us a call here at the clinic, or even send us an email and we'll be sure to help you out. Out. Not going to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, we will share with you some of the neat and interesting findings as of late in the health and wellness world based on the research and literature out there that may just support some of your own thinking, actions, choices, and decisions throughout the day to support the good health and wellness that you're looking for and/or trying to create. So congratulations for your focus. Every day you spend a little bit of time, like on our daily health update, thinking about your health and wellness. Over time, that'll create a ripple effect and maybe keep you headed in a good direction with some momentum. And, uh, you just never know how good life can get when you're taking care of yourself and perhaps even those around you. So the American Journal of Critical Care, May 2021, looked at nurses, especially those nurses who might be stressed, and they're more likely to make mistakes, as many of us are if we are stressed. However, It's not about them, it's about the system. So a survey of nearly 800 critical care nurses revealed that more than half had poor physical health and/or subpar mental health, and they were up to 62% more likely to have made a medical error. However, nursing professionals whose employers provided greater support for their wellbeing were 2 times more likely to have good physical health and mental health. So the authors note that it's clear that critical nurses, critical care nurses, Like so many other clinicians, cannot continue to pour from an empty cup. Nurses need support and investment in evidence-based programming and resources that enhance their well-being and equip them with resiliency so they can take optimal care of their patients. So this has an interesting spillover effect, extrapolation to the rest of us, and it's a similar situation where we bring what we bring to the table and everything that we do every day. And if we bring something that's healthy and functioning well, we tend to see different results than if come to the table struggling. But often it's not only our choices that make up that ability to function well, but it's also the choices of those who create the environments around us, especially our workplaces. So a healthy workplace leads to healthy employees and healthy manpower, creates a healthy product and experience for customers and patients and whoever else might be involved, all the stakeholders. And it's an upward spiral instead of a downward spiral and struggle. So take good care of yourself, yes, and let's take take good care of our workplaces and our environments, whether that be at home and at work, so that we can continue to be at our best and creating those great experiences every day in our lives. And of course, some of those experiences are personal. We want to enjoy the things we enjoy, but many of those experiences are part of what we do for a living, our career, and some of the challenges that we face. And the better we are, the more positive things we bring to the table, the better we're going to see those experiences turn out. So good for us for being here today, a step in the right direction by listening to and partaking in some good health and wellness information. The European Journal of Epidemiology, April 2021, looked at leafy greens and how they can lower heart disease risk. They looked at over 50,000 adults, and it showed an association between a higher intake of leafy greens and other nitrate-rich vegetables and both lower systolic blood pressure and up to a 26% reduced risk for heart disease. So vegetables, good. Increase that daily intake as best you can. The American Academy of Family Physicians, April 2021, looked at the benefits, the health benefits of exercise, and they list the following benefits, such as decreased risk of early death, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, adverse blood lipid profile, metabolic syndrome, and colon and breast cancers. The prevention of weight gain, weight loss when combined with a healthy diet, improved cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, fall prevention, reduced depression, and improved cognitive function. So there are some benefits across the board by including some healthy activity in our daily lives, physically, chemically, and emotionally. Uh, it's a wonderful spin-off for spending some time getting out there and hopefully finding something you enjoy. Doing. Ah, aggressive behavior, April 2021. Being bullied may drive thoughts of violence. There's always some aspects of our daily health update that are challenging to share because they're not always positive, but they do reflect some of the things we face in society. And so they did interviews with over 1,400 teenagers, and it revealed that the more incidents of bullying an adolescent experiences, the more likely they are to have violent fantasies. However, the study did not investigate if violent thoughts caused by bullying or mistreatment led to violent behavior. And it's, um, a note to all of us today to just try to take care of each other, be nice to each other. You know, you don't always have to like everybody, and not everybody may like you, but we want to try and love each other, respect each other, and know that there are different types of people, different ways of doing things in the world. We want to embrace those differences because it's those— that uniqueness that allows us to have the variety and the progress that we have in life. So no more bullying. Be nice. And if you don't like someone, then don't spend time with them. You don't have to. They probably don't want to spend time with you either. BMC Medicine, May 2021, looked at midlife dementia risk factors using data from the UK Biobank. Researchers report that smoking, diabetes, and obesity are midlife risk factors for developing dementia later in life. A good reminder for those lifestyle factors again, as we've touched on today, with your nutrition, with your activity levels, and your sleep, to try and maintain a good health throughout life, and you're less likely to succumb to some of our common challenges, including cognitive decline later on in life. And finally, the Journal of Medicine, March 2021, looked at low back pain in pharmacists. A review of health data concerning over 10,000 pharmacists under 40 years of age revealed that set— almost 17% had either hospitalized for low back pain or had made at least 3 outpatient visits for low back pain during the previous decade. Further analysis identified the following risk factors for low back pain among pharmacists: prolonged standing, older age, and a history of type 2 diabetes or gout. Now that 17%, uh, is pretty significant in that those are the people who actually sought out care multiple times and/or actually presented in an emergency room. There's probably a large percentage of people who have similar kind of discomfort in their lower back But they live with it. They think it's not that bad. They find ways to cope or manage, or they think they're just getting older. And it doesn't necessarily need to be that way. We all tell ourselves stories like that with different aspects of our health, perhaps. But we should not settle for less. Do not sell yourself short. You can be as good as you'd like to be, and it just takes some effort and focus, like tuning into the Daily Health Update. So that's your one for Thursday. Some interesting information in there today to get you thinking and maybe focused on your own health and wellness and the health and wellness of those around you. Tomorrow we'll post a written format for you heading you into the weekend, kind of the first weekend of summer, hopefully. And, uh, you guys are gonna get out there and enjoy it and, uh, take care of your body, mind, and soul by engaging in something that puts a smile on your face. And then we'll catch up with you on Monday next week. Keep the momentum going with your daily health updates and your own daily health and wellness progress. All right, all the best. Take care. Be well.
