Health Update Jan 26 2021

Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, you enjoyed a good start to your week here at the end of January. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update for Tuesday, January 26th, 2020. Gonna look at 6 areas of health and wellness based on the latest research and literature. Somewhere around this video you can read through all 6 areas. We're gonna touch on a few in the video today. If you'd like a copy of that, just DM us on social, give us a call, send us an email, and we'll be sure that you get that. I'm not going to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, because you're here, because you're making an effort, because you're going to tap into that part of your brain that's paying attention to your own health choices, actions, and decisions each day, it will support you head in a good direction with your own health and wellness. And when you rinse and repeat on a daily basis over time, you just never know what incredible things will happen with your own health and wellness. So let's keep our fingers crossed and some hope and faith behind that, and let's see what we have today. The Journal Canadian Journal of Dermatology Nurses Association for December 2020 warns about college, university-aged students and their tanning bed use in the winter, which increases, and whether or not they apply sunscreen and other factors may raise the risk for skin cancer later in life. It can be damaging to that skin, and some research shows that, that sun exposure, including tanning beds, is cumulative lifetime, especially if it involves burns. We want to watch out for those burns. Meat consumption can be linked to childhood asthma, according to the journal Thorax, December 2020. They look at something called advanced glycation end products, AGEs, and those can be found in meats, dairy products, and especially fried foods. And those are pro-inflammatory chemicals. And as we know, inflammation can be a leading cause in many different health problems, including our leading causes of chronic chronic disease in North America, but could may also trigger an immune response. And if someone has respiratory challenges such as asthma, and including children and youth, it may trigger, um, an attack. So be cautious of that. You may want to read into that research. It's interesting. Green living can encourage middle-agers to exercise, according to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, December 2020. They gave them accelerometers, they collected data from over 5,400 middle-aged adults, and those who lived in areas with more green spaces tended to be more active. They were moving around more than people who were not close to those green spaces. So get out and enjoy nature, even if it's in the winter. Get some fresh air and move about, get outside if you can. Eating disorders and self-harm occur together. Challenging time right now with the pandemic. Mental health and wellness is probably a big concern for so many people, more so than ever right now because of what we're challenged with and how we have to try and get through it, especially with the self-isolation, staying at home. And changing our routines. So the Journal of Affective Disorders, January 2021, looked at this important correlation, and it's something you may want to read up on and learn about as well. The Prevention Journal, September 2020, talked about how to tame a lingering cough. Of course, right now, if you have a cough, especially a fever, shortness of breath, generally feeling unwell, you do want to get that checked and maybe get tested in case you have COVID-19. But for the common cold, it's always good to get rest to give your immune system a chance chance to, uh, do what it needs to do to protect you and get rid of the infection. Using air purifiers are a good way to clear the air of irritants. Drinking warm tea with honey and a steam facial may also help to keep that airway clear and help you breathe better and decrease that cough. And finally, from the world of neurosurgery, the World Neurosurgery Report, November 2020, they looked at lumbar fusion surgery to join or adhere bones in the lower back for degenerative disc disease. If there was a deterioration to the cushion in between the bones, would that lumbar fusion or joining of the two bones where that degeneration occurring be of benefit? They did a comprehensive review of over 700 patients, and they found that that's— fusion surgery was no better than non-operative treatments such as chiropractic when it came to reducing pain and disability in both the short-term and long-term. However, the researchers do note that further research is needed to confirm those findings. And of course, that is always ongoing, trying to figure out the best way to get some relief for people who are suffering from back and neck pain, and then making sure they learn some strategies to help keep that at bay. And that's certainly what we love to do here every day. So it's good to see that the research is ongoing and that there are non-invasive, less invasive options to consider first before trying those more invasive and perhaps more challenging things to navigate, like surgery and long-term medication use. All right, so that's your update for Tuesday. Getting a strong start to the week to head you into the tail end of the week. Tomorrow's Wednesday, we'll be back with your next daily health update video. We hope you're enjoying them. If you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear from you, good or bad. We're good with the critiques. Send us your comments. We'd love to hear from you. Otherwise, we'll catch up with you tomorrow. Have a great day. Take care. Be well.