In this daily health update for the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic, Dr. David Koivuranta (Dr. Dave) presents six concise wellness topics. He begins with a reminder that the content is informational, not diagnostic, and offers a newsletter option. He highlights the heightened suicide risk following disasters, citing a November 2020 study that shows a 23% increase that can persist for two years, and urges viewers to use mental‑health helplines. He then discusses a MedRxiv report indicating that daily vitamin D supplementation of 400–1,000 IU may cut acute respiratory infection risk by about 30%, recommending checking vitamin D levels. Next, he references a Nutrients study showing that diets high in processed sugars or fats increase muscle‑nerve excitability and pain in mice, advising reduced intake of highly processed foods. He moves to strength training, summarizing American Cancer Society benefits—greater muscle mass, bone strength, flexibility, metabolism, and balance—and stresses finding enjoyable activities. He reviews a BMC Medicine analysis linking moderate‑to‑severe sleep disturbances in older adults to faster accumulation of neuropsychiatric and musculoskeletal multimorbidity, urging early detection and professional help. Finally, he cites a Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation article that identifies upper‑cervical spine dysfunction as a possible cause of dizziness after ruling out vestibular and cardiovascular issues, recommending chiropractic evaluation. Throughout, Dr. Dave adopts a supportive, conversational tone, encouraging proactive health decisions and regular engagement with the clinic’s resources.
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Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, you enjoyed your weekend, looking forward to a nice Monday and a super week wherever you are, whatever you find yourself doing. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update. It's Monday, January 11th, 2021. Gonna look at 6 areas of health and wellness today. Somewhere around this video you can read all 6 areas. We're probably gonna touch on all 6 today 'cause it's a good one. Not gonna treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, you just You just never know what your body's capable of when you start taking great care of it, or if you already are and you keep taking great care of it. And some of that involves staying plugged into some good information so that it supports those great decisions, actions, things you're doing for yourself every day when it comes to your health and wellness. If you'd like to receive a hard copy or an email version of this newsletter, let us know. We can get that to you. Just DM us on social, send us an email, or contact the clinic. Unfortunately, in the news today, I heard of a— as many of you may have heard of emergency room doctor in Quebec, a young lady, had taken her life during the second wave of the pandemic. Very challenging time for our frontline workers. And coincidentally, today's daily health update, according to the Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention from November 2020, they said that disasters increase suicides. According to a new study, an individual's risk for suicide can increase up to 23% following a natural disaster, and the elevated suicide risk can persist for up to 2 years. The findings reveal that more mental health resources are needed to address challenges that arise after disaster, and that these services should be extended for a longer period of time following a disaster. Now, certainly this pandemic we're in is a global natural disaster. And if you or someone you know is having a hard time dealing with the challenges that come with this on all levels, physically, chemically, emotionally, then do reach out. There are several helplines available. And/or you can contact your healthcare provider, any regulated healthcare provider, and they will support you in finding the help that you need. Very important during this difficult period over the next few months as we try to turn our situation around on this lovely planet of ours, right? MedRxiv, which I've never heard of, in November 2020 released a report about vitamin D supplementation and how it can lower acute respiratory infection risk. They looked looked at 42 published studies that consuming 400 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily may reduce an individual's risk for acute respiratory infection by 30%. So again, when you have your next physical and you get a blood or urine— and/or urine test done, get that vitamin D level checked and make some measures to ensure it's within a healthy range. The journal Nutrients, October 20th: Processed fats and sugars increase muscle pain. Not good for our health in many other ways, but researchers noticed in this study that switching diet of mice to one rich in either highly processed sugars or fats led to increased excitability of the muscle nerves and resulted in muscle pain. The findings suggest that reducing the intake of highly processed foods may benefit patients with muscle pain. So eat natural and stay away from things that live longer on the shelf than you will live. All right, strength training. According to the American Cancer Society, November 2020 notes that following benefits for strength training include increased muscle muscle mass, stronger bones, improved joint flexibility, increased metabolism, and improved balance. So those are the things that we know exercise can provide us. However, it won't provide it to us unless we have some notion of what we'd like to do every day for fitness. Finding an activity that you enjoy doing, not necessarily working out or a rehab type program, which can also be beneficial, but something that you find fun and engages you in some way, is probably even better. BMC Medicine Journal, December 2020, looked at problems with sleep, uh, and how they only accelerate any other troubles that might be existing in your health and wellness status. Using data from the SNACK study, researchers report that older adults with moderate to severe sleep disturbances will likely accumulate chronic neuropsychiatric and musculoskeletal conditions at a faster rate than seniors with good sleep hygiene. The authors of the analysis conclude that early detection and treatment of sleep difficulties may present itself as a possible strategy to reduce the risk for chronic multimorbidity in the older population. So regardless of your age, if you're noticing you're having problems falling asleep, staying asleep, your sleep quality is not good, and you wake up tired or you're fatigued throughout the day, even though it's manageable, you can deal with it, you might be thinking that it's just the way you are, or you might just be getting older, it does pay to reach out to a qualified healthcare provider to see if there's some improvement that can be made with your sleep challenges so that it doesn't impact your health over time. So get those sleep challenges checked out. The Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation, October '20, looked at dizziness and how it could be related to dysfunction in the neck. It has obviously a number of different causes, but the upper neck, the upper cervical spine as it is known, may also be involved. They looked at this article And, um, once, uh, inner ear or vestibular and cardiovascular problems have been ruled out, patients with ongoing dizziness should be evaluated for these neck disorders. And of course, a good place to go is to see your friendly neighborhood chiropractor. All right, so there's your daily health update for Monday. Lots of good information there to get you thinking throughout today. We'll provide you with the same Monday through Friday this week, Monday through Thursday, Thursday with a video. And every day with that written format so you can stay plugged in, tuned in, tapped into some of the latest and greatest when it comes to the choices and action steps you can take each day to create those great experiences you'd like to have in your life. Because you do live that life through your body, and keeping it healthy will make sure you have the most fun available. All right, so enjoy your week, take care, and I'll catch up with you tomorrow.
