Weekly Health Update by Toronto Chiropractor Dr. David Koivuranta in Davisville.

Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, taking care of each other, enjoying yourself, creating those good experiences every day. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your weekly health update for the last full week of November 2021. I'm going to share with you some of the latest and greatest in the research and literature when it comes to health and wellness, help stimulate your own thinking about your health and wellness choices each day, and perhaps the decisions and choices for those people around you as well. Not going to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness cure disease with our time together today. However, you just never know what might improve, what you can get better, what you can keep well, and how long you can stay healthy when you start to pay attention to some of the health and wellness options that exist. And there are many of them. So hopefully we'll get you thinking about that today. Going to look at the risks of developing anxiety based on the Frontiers in Psychiatry report, September 2021. And they said that regular exercise is helpful in reducing the risk of developing anxiety. They looked at nearly 400,000 of 100,000 people and they found that those with a more physically active lifestyle were nearly 60% less likely to develop anxiety than their peers over a 21-year follow-up period. So some pretty solid evidence there that that activity, our exercise, not just about our heart and lungs and our muscles, but also good for our mood. So trying to incorporate that into your daily routine is a very, very smart thing. So more motivation for you to try and make that happen and if you already are, that's amazing. Keep going. The benefits are there for you. And sometimes instead of exercising, we kind of value our free time, and that's okay too because we do like to have free time. But according to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, September 2021, it may not make you happier having that free time. Some questionnaires were completed by over 21,000 adults, and it revealed that a lack of free time was associated with proper well-being But the benefits of extra free time plateaued at 2 hours per day. Furthermore, well-being started to decrease once people had more than 5 hours of free time each day. So like everything else in life, some moderation. You do want to have some free time, some chill time. It is very healthy, but at the same time, we don't want to overdo it. Our body does need some stimulation and engagement physically, chemically, and emotionally. So it's good to get out there and also be active and/or doing or being whatever you'd like to be or do., in a certain day. And, uh, uh, stress is one of the things that we try to mitigate by having some free time, and so does our activity helps mitigate stress. So it's a balance or moderation of all of these. And we want to get rid of stress because according to the journal Hypertension, September 2021, it increases your cardiovascular risks. So using data from a long-term study, researchers identified an association between higher levels of stress hormones like norepinephrine epinephrine, dopamine, and of course cortisol, and a significantly increased risk for cardiovascular events over the following two decades. So stress actually changes your body chemistry in a detrimental way and affects the functions of several systems, including that cardiovascular system. So having some free time, some chill time, and— but not too much of it— and then also staying active, this balance and moderation. But then of course we throw in some good quality sleep as well as some good quality nutrition, and we can help decrease those cardiovascular risks. So the Florida International University, September 2021, come— came up to support that process with some keys to healthy aging. To keep the aging mind and body as healthy as possible, researchers recommend the following: exercise at moderate intensity at least 150 minutes per week, eat more plant-based rich foods and antioxidants and vitamins, and get social to avoid isolation. So spend some time with some people that you enjoy spending time with, or even if you don't, just get out and about where other people are so that you can feel the energy and just even be a wallflower, a social butterfly, but maybe not engaging. Whatever makes you comfortable or happy, that's what you should be doing to help avoid or to help with healthy aging. We can't avoid it necessarily, at least chronologically, but in terms of our health, we want to slow and stop as much that aging process as possible. When it comes to accelerated aging, we just don't want to age faster than we need to or should. The Neurobiology of Aging, September 2021, says that food choices can affect your brain and the aging process in that respect. They observed an association between a diet rich in fish, nuts, and olive oil and improved regulation of iron levels in the brain, which has been linked to better mental acuity. So those nutrients and some of those things— the fish, nuts, and olive oil, of course, hallmarks of the Mediterranean diet, which we're big fans of on the weekly, uh, used to be daily health update. So, uh, good benefits to your body and especially that brain from eating those healthy foods. And people who value good health are more likely to protect it over time, according to a recent study posted in Preventive Medicine Reports, August 2021. The more an individual values good health, the more likely they are to take advantage of preventive health services such as cancer screenings, blood pressure checks, cholesterol checks, blood tests, and urine tests. So all of those tests that we get done are valuable because they help with early detection, and early detection increases the likelihood of earlier intervention when needed. But of course, prevention comes from living a lifestyle that supports well-being from the beginning, so that those tests should always come back negative. So it's good to have the test done, but we don't want to rely on the test as an indicator that that's the time to start doing something about something that may not be going as well as we would like it to. Those tests should always come back negative if we're trying to live that healthy lifestyle. Of course, pain isn't fun, not part of that healthy lifestyle. The Pakistan Journal of Medicine Science— Medical Science, August 2021, talked about mobilization and how that reduces myofascial neck pain. So getting parts of your neck sitting and moving better can help discomfort there. They looked at 30 patients with myofascial chronic neck pain. They treated them with mobilization therapy, and they did that twice a week for 8 weeks, and they had greater improvements in pain, function, and range of motion in their neck than patients giving a place— given a placebo or sham treatment. The findings support the utilization of manual therapies in the management of chronic neck pain. So if you've gotten some care for neck pain and it's improved, then keep your neck mobile, functional. And you can do that preventatively as well with some occasional care. Chiropractic, osteopathy, massage therapy, physiotherapy can all help. And of course, if you or someone you know is suffering from— I know it's not always the most exciting or thing that we would look forward to is someone working on our neck, especially mobilizing it or manipulating it. But the research shows that when done properly, there is benefit. So do go get that checked out. Sometimes treating, um, with manipulation for pain seems obvious. If it hurts to move and we get it moving better, it should feel better. But that same mobilization or manipulation in the neck can also help with dizziness, according to Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, September 2021. The dizziness that comes as part of dysfunction in the neck is called cervicogenic dizziness, and it's, uh, some new research suggests that the combination of cervical spinal manipulation and traction is effective for improving cervical mobility and reducing dizziness intensity and self-perceived disability. So it's good to have your neck function checked if you are noticing some dizziness symptoms. And of course, you'd also want to rule out some other sources of that dizziness that may be related to cardiovascular, for example. But most manual therapists can also rule those out and make sure they determine the cause or source of that dizziness, which is important for appropriate treatment. And finally, an escalation of treatment is less likely with spinal manipulation according to the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. So they did a retrospective analysis of insurance claims and it showed that patients who receive spinal manipulative therapy as their initial form of care for neck conditions are significantly less likely to experience an an escalation of treatment that can include further imaging, injections, emergency, emergency room visits, or surgery. So usually there is a component with neck problems that involve the neck not sitting or moving properly. And quite often when you get it sitting or moving better, even if there are other factors involved with that neck pain, because the neck is sitting and moving better and the body can better regulate itself with that function, the healing may improve. And other causes or sources or concomitant or concurrent problems, things that are happening at the same time, will improve as that neck environment goes back to more what it should be like. So less likely to escalate to other treatments if you get manual— manipulative therapy first. So big neck focus today, a big mood focus with keeping us happy, and it all comes down to those lifestyle factors and of course seeking out care, advice, some direction and treatment when and if necessary. So some good direction for you today perhaps to think about some things that would help support you. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to Reach out to us here at the clinic. You can DM us on social, send us email, or give us a call. We have 24-hour reception. Someone's happy to talk to you live 24 hours a day, and we'll be sure to get back to you with what you need or want. Otherwise, keep taking care of yourself, keep enjoying yourself, make sure you create some good experiences in your life every day, and we'll catch up with you next time for your weekly health update. All the best.