Daily Health Update for May 31 2021 by Toronto Chiropractor Dr. David Koivuranta in Davisville.

Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, you had a nice weekend, you're looking forward to your Monday and your week ahead. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update for Monday, May 31st, 2021. Last day of May, let's make it a good one. Not gonna— oh, what, what are we not gonna do? What we are gonna do is share with you 6 areas of health and wellness somewhere around this video, you can read through all 6 areas from the research and literature. And if you'd like a copy or you have any questions, you can DM us on social, send us an email here at the clinic, or give us a call. We're always happy to help. Not going to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, you may find something of interest that might just help guide some of the decisions you're going to make today with your own health and wellness, and it might even, um, instigate the action of going to see somebody to help you with something that maybe you've been thinking about getting some help for a while because now is the time. And it may relate to one of the 6 areas we talk about, or maybe not. But when you tap into some good health information on a regular basis, you never know what it'll stimulate in the process that can support you and those around you with your health and wellness. So keep tuning in. It's a good thing to do. The Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open March 2021 talked about obesity and how it may shorten the survival of cancer patients. According to a review of findings from 200 studies, obesity is associated with shorter cancer survival in patients with cancer of the breast, uterus, colon, prostate, or pancreas. Science is very interesting when they crunch the numbers. There's different perspectives that come into play based on those numbers. The numbers don't have to be huge for them to be clinically or scientifically relevant, relevant, so they can draw some conclusions based on some smaller numbers. But what they do know is is that when we deviate from what might be closer to our ideal body weight, then if it's too light or too heavy, and we usually have some challenges adapting, and that also means adapting to different health conditions, not just cancer, but anytime you take your body into a situation where it needs to adapt and recover, it will be challenged if it's not healthy. And one of those healthy parameters that the science quite often reflects on is how close we are to our ideal body weight. So the motivation is not aesthetics. We're all beautiful the way that we are, the motivation is certainly more related to wanting to have good quality of life for as long as possible so that we can do the things we need and want to do every day and create some good experiences. So certainly some of us will unfortunately have some challenges along the way, but the healthier we are when we go into those challenges, the better off we may be. And many aspects of the Daily Health Update talk about trying to stack the deck in your favor so that it can be the case for you whether or not those challenges come. So another thing that could be a challenge are some of the foods we eat and the nutrition that we try to follow. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, March 2021, said that processed foods are bad for the heart. Using data from an ongoing study, researchers estimate that each daily serving of ultra-processed foods increases an individual's risk for cardiovascular disease by 5% and cardiovascular disease, disease-related death by almost 10%. So we probably know some of these things, processed and refined goods, not necessarily foods, not necessarily good for us, especially when we have them more often. However, the research may motivate us to finally try and clean up what it is we're using as fuel to make sure that we stay healthy. So along with nutrition, we quite often talk about activity, exercise, movement, fitness, if you will. And the clinical nursing report from Spain, April 2021, looked at lifting weights and how that can also strengthen your bones. It's not always about those wonderful looking muscles. For patients with osteoporosis or those who are at risk for the disease, the current research suggests that high load resistance training is associated with improved bone mineral density in the spinal vertebrae and the hips, where they quite often do bone density analysis from. But we know that with bone density, it's not just the calcium, the vitamin D, the vitamin K, and your nutrition that's important, but it's also weight-bearing exercise. We want to stress those bones in a healthy way so that they are encouraged to lay that calcium down and make those bones nice and strong. Sleep is another component along with our nutrition and our fitness or activity level. The International Journal of Clinical Practice, April 2021, talked about sleep being important for our cognitive function, for our brains to keep it healthy. It's important to get quality sleep each night for that reason. Signs and symptoms— oh, sorry, a review of data of nearly 3,000 elderly adults revealed that reducing exposure to light and noise in bedroom, relaxing in the evening, and meeting exercise guidelines are important for getting a good night's rest. So tire yourself out, give yourself a good environment, have a relaxing evening, de-stress, let the day go, and hopefully it will help with your quality of sleep. The Mayo Clinic, April 2021, talks about asthma and how to spot it. Asthma causes the airways to narrow and swell, making it difficult to breathe. Signs and symptoms of asthma include shortness of breath, chest tightness or pain, wheezing Hissing when exhaling. Trouble sleeping caused by shortness of breath, coughing, or wheezing. And coughing or wheezing attacks that are worsened by a respiratory infection. Pulmonary experts note that individuals should contact their doctor if they suspect they have asthma, as the condition can be life-threatening for some. Sometimes in the spring we may notice some challenges with our breathing, some shortness of breath perhaps. We may think that it's seasonal allergies. However, it doesn't hurt to have an assessment to make sure that that sensitivity doesn't tie into some reactive airway concern like asthma as well. And finally, uh, from the Pain Medicine report, February 2021, they looked at different causes of chronic low back pain, and they found that the facet joints— these smaller joints in the back of the spine, these are the vertebrae, little cushion in between the disc, spinal cord housed in the middle, 32 pairs of nerves that come out the whole spine, control everything that's happening— and then there's these smaller joints in the back that help guide and stabilize the motion and function of the spine. And they found that, um, a recent experiment with over 200 chronic low back pain patients, they did a diagnostic nerve block and it relieved pain in 15% of the patients. That suggested that facet joint dysfunction— when these joints aren't sitting and moving properly— they can be the primary cause of 1 in 6 cases of chronic low back pain. Now the interesting thing is that utilizing spinal manipulation and other manual therapies can help restore and improve the proper motion alignment to those joints and the other parts in your spine, or in a spine, and that could help manage back pain without having to resort to more invasive procedures like those injections. So if you or someone you know has chronic low back pain and manual therapy hasn't pursued, especially to a significant extent, there could be some relief there for that person. So check that out as well. All right, that's your daily health update for Monday. Good way to start the week. A lot of good information there for you. I hope you make it a good one rolling into June. The summer months are coming and a good time for us to get outside and take good care of ourselves. So enjoy that this week as best you can. We'll be back tomorrow with a video daily health update for you. Look forward to chatting with you then. Take care.