In this 6‑minute video Dr. David Koivuranta (Dr. Dave) delivers a daily health update for Thursday, March 4 2021 on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic. He presents six concise, research‑backed health‑wellness snippets and practical self‑care tips. 1) Shift‑work, especially night or rotating schedules, is linked to a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, with women disproportionately affected; self‑care is advised for night‑workers. 2) Green tea consumption is associated with increased longevity in stroke survivors and offers general health benefits, but may interact with certain medications, so patients should discuss use with their doctors. 3) For cancer patients, any low‑intensity exercise during therapy reduces fatigue; intensity is less important than simply staying active. 4) Listening to music peri‑operatively after cardiac surgery can lower anxiety and pain without side effects. 5) Home‑heating equipment is the second leading cause of residential fires; Dr. Dave lists safety checks (furnace, chimney, space heaters, water heater, clearances). 6) Over 70 % of adolescents report back pain, largely due to poor sitting posture and heavy backpacks; ergonomic habits and regular checks are recommended. The video ends with a reminder that the information is informational only, not a diagnosis, and encourages viewers to keep health front‑of‑mind.
Chapters
Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Welcome to Thursday. Hopefully you're all having a wonderful week. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update for Thursday, March 4th, 2021. Another good one today. 6 areas of health and wellness. Somewhere around this video you can read through all those 6 areas, and if you'd like a copy, DM us on social, send us an email here at the clinic, or give us a call. We'll be sure to get that to you. Not going to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, you will receive a little bit of information based on the latest research and literature that may spark some of the decisions, actions, choices that you will make today for your own health and wellness and/or just simply create some good momentum in your life about the positive health things that are going on in the health and wellness world. So good on you for being here. Welcome, and I hope you have a super day and that what we share today helps make it a little more super. That would be great. If you're a shift worker, there could be a little bit of concern with some side effects according to the Chronobiology International report, February 2021. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions including high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipid levels, high fasting blood sugar, and excessive waist circumference that occur together and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. So a review from data of 36 studies concluded that working non-traditional hours is associated with an increased risk for metabolic syndrome over time, with women more affected than men. We did a presentation about a decade ago to a power plant in the GTA here, the Greater Toronto Area, and the request from the organizer was to discuss the side effects or the health challenges with shift work. And as we did the research for that, we were kind of shocked at how shift work, especially that night shift, And whether it's rotating or not, although I think the rotating was a little more difficult than the continuous, if I remember correctly, but it didn't really matter. Both of them were definitely hard on the body. Working at night is something that our body doesn't seem to naturally want to do or be predisposed to do. Now, even though some jobs and some things do need to happen at night, it involves probably a higher level of self-care to be able to deal with the side effects of that shift work, uh, or, um, nighttime work. So if that is you or someone you know, and take doubly good care of yourself because there can be some side effects with that challenging schedule. The journal Stroke, February 2021, looked at the benefits of green tea to help with heart attack and stroke patients. The compounds found in green tea have been linked to several health benefits, and a new study suggests that green tea can also increase longevity in stroke survivors. Among a group of 46,000 adults, researchers observed that regular green tea drinkers with a history of stroke were less likely to die in the following 20 years than those who seldom or never consumed green tea. And now, even for non-stroke or non-crisis situations, green tea is a healthy thing to consume. It does have some health benefits based on the research that's been done on the compounds that have been found in it. And you do, though, however, if you are consuming it and you are on medications, do let your family doctor know because those compounds, even though they're good for you, may interact with some medications to some extent, and you may modify those medications. So instead of staying away from green tea, your doctor may monitor you and your symptoms and/or your overall health while drinking green tea and on your medications and adjust the medications instead of stopping the green tea. The green tea is good for you, you should be able to have it, but that's something you can discuss with your healthcare provider. And you can read up some more on the benefits of that if you so desire. The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine, Science and Sports, February 2021, looked at, uh, exercise during cancer therapy, and they found that the intensity is not as important as just being able to, uh, be active. So among a group of 577 patients undergoing treatment for cancer, researchers observed that while engaging in exercise helped reduce fatigue, Exercise intensity did not appear to make much difference. So again, that motion component is probably what helps support our body's systems, including the immune system, in the healthiest way. So including that motion or movement-based activity, even under cancer therapy, is a good idea, but it does not need to be intense at that stage, uh, if that's something that someone is undergoing. Open Heart, uh, in January 2021, either, uh, the report or maybe a journal called Open Heart, that would be kind of cool. They found that music provides post-operative benefits. New research suggests that listening to music can reduce anxiety and pain in patients recovering from heart surgery. The authors of the study note that music has neither risks nor side effects, so healthcare professionals should consider providing proprio— pre— perioperative music for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Music, especially something that moves you or resonates with you, is probably very therapeutic at many different stages in life for different reasons. But now some of the research shows even with something like an operation can be beneficial in the recovery. So that's pretty cool. A positive note for music and music lovers in the world. Now the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company in February 2021 looked at home heating and how it can cause fires in the home. Heating equipment is the second leading cause of home fires in the United States. So they recommend the following tips to keep you safe during the winter months. I know we're on the tail end of those. Thankfully, but, um, still some good advice. Have your furnace inspected by a professional yearly. Clean your chimney, check your chimney for structural damage. Use a diffuser screen with your wood-burning fireplaces. Never leave a space heater unattended and have your water heater checked and keep flammable material away from boilers. Some good home maintenance. Sometimes things get cluttered around those areas where we have some of our, uh, home appliances, big home like the furnace and the boiler, it becomes a storage space sometimes, and those areas need to be free and clear so that equipment can operate properly, and just to have nothing in the vicinity of those in case they don't get along very well and could cause some kind of problem. So good to have those checked and maintained on a regular basis. And finally, Pain Management Nursing, January 2021, looked at posture and and musculoskeletal pain in teenagers. Questionnaires completed by over 2,000 adolescents revealed that over 70% had back pain during the previous 3 months, which the teenagers attributed to poor sitting posture and backpack usage. So, uh, these days, of course, at all stages of life, we're engaged in technology, and we also have to go to and from our workplaces occasionally and to our schools. And a lot of us bring things with us, not only those items required for work and/or school, but also for those things that we may do throughout the day. And that includes sometimes for athletes carrying different equipment. We have to carry our food and our snacks. And then we might do before or after work and school activities like going to the gym or practicing or learning a musical instrument, etc. So we can be lugging around quite a bit of stuff. So whether it's from the sitting and/or some repetitive sedentary, work throughout the day or studying, and/or because of the things we have to carry and do in our routine, could cause some back discomfort. So it's good to look at those routines and set things up properly, create a strategy around getting those done efficiently and well, but then also making sure you get that back pain checked and treated so that it doesn't become a lifelong challenge for you. All right, that's our daily health update for Thursday, the last video update this week. We'll send a written format at you tomorrow. You'll see that post it on social media and on our clinic group site. And, uh, I hope you have a good weekend coming up. We'll catch up with you again Monday next week with your, uh, daily health update video format as always. Otherwise, we wish you well, stay healthy, keep your health at the front of your mind, uh, each day while you're enjoying what you do and trying to create those great experiences. It will serve you well and help keep a smile on that wonderful face of yours. All right, and I'll look forward to seeing that face next week on the other side of the camera. Take care, we'll catch you then.
