Boosting Your Energy

Kathy Summers discusses in her article titled, “5 Ways to Eat for Energy” about ways to keep your energy intact throughout the day. If you are someone who grabs convenience foods, caffeine or candy to help get through a busy day, it is likely that your body is not receiving critical nutrients to keep it working at an efficient pace. Here are some ways to keep up your body’s natural energy. Liz Applegate, a director of sports nutrition and senior lecturer in nutrition, suggests starting the day with protein and making sure to drink enough water to avoid dehydration, which could lead to fatigue and headaches. Applegate states large meals and eating close to bedtime should be avoided. If you tend to eat meals fast, it is best to slow down so enzymes can work to digest food. Focusing on the meal you are consuming can be beneficial because it can increase the metabolism of that specific meal. 

Caffeine should not be used as an energy source as it can deplete the body of essential vitamins (B and C), magnesium and micro minerals. The endocrine system plays a large role in the hormones circulating in the body. Dr. Mark Hyman suggests ways to keep your thyroid healthy. You can focus on cutting back on caffeine and eating more foods like seaweed, sea vegetables, sardines, salmon, Brazil nuts, scallops, herring, dandelion and mustard greens. These items can help increase iodine, selenium, omega-3 fasts and vitamins. It is possible that you may be experiencing low energy due to vitamin or mineral defiency. If this is the case, a multivitamin, B vitamins, fatty acids, supergreen supplements, digestive enzymes, amino acids or other supplements may be beneficial. As always, any supplement should be discussed with a provider before starting a regime. If you are looking for ways to increase your energy, it is best to start by doing things mentioned in this article that seem doable right now because small changes can make a big difference over time. To find out more ways to keep yourself healthy, please visit our website at www.oxborochiro.com.

Source: https://experiencelife.com/article/5-ways-to-eat-for-energy/

Happiness

Amanda MacMillian describes in her article titled, "It's Official: Happiness Really Can Improve Health", about the benefits that happiness can bring to all aspects of health. A comprehensive review that detailed information from 20 literature reviews and more than 150 studies was published that discussed how people evaluated areas of their lives and aspects of their physical health. One of the lead authors of the review, Edward Diener, states that there is "almost no doubt" that happiness can influence one's health. He suggests it may be because those who are happy are more likely to take better care of themselves and choose healthy habits like exercising, eating well and getting enough sleep at night. Happiness has been found to have positive effects on the body in regards to the immune and cardiovascular system, amounts of inflammation and improving wound healing. Happiness has also been associated with increasing the length of telomeres which appear at the end of chromosomes that typically shorten as one ages. 

Evidence is strong enough that happiness seems to be linked to health for some, but not always for others. It is not always a guarantee that if you are happy, you will have better health. In 2015 research based on one million women, happiness had been found to not have an effect on mortality rates when researchers considered self-reported health. This is why Diener wanted to complete a more research to defend how happiness could affect health. He is hoping through this research that doctors will continue to start monitoring positive emotions during physicals, not solely negatives ones. Diener states that learning to enjoy work, increasing gratefulness and having postivie relationships are important for achieving true happiness. To find out more ways to keep yourself healthy, please visit our website at www.oxborochiro.com. 

Source: http://time.com/4866693/happiness-improves-health/

Protecting Your Brain

In an article written by Michael Dregni titled, "CTE Found in 99 Percent of NFL Players Studied" he discusses information from an interview with Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist, about the impact that high-contact sports can have on the brain. CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and it has been found to be quite prevalent in football players. CTE is associated with repeated trauma to the head. 202 deceased football players' brains were researched and CTE was found in 177 of those players. 110 of the 111 players that played in the National Football League had been found to have CTE. Families were interviewed about their loved ones to discover more information about their histories. Among those diagnosed with severe CTE, 89 percent were found to have behavioral disorders, mood disorders or both. 95 percent of them had cognitive issues and 85 percent had indications of dementia. The research is limited by the fact that the participants of the research may have been motivated to participate because of the awareness that repetitive blows to the head can cause CTE. 

Bennet Omalu was the first person to discover it in 2002 when he was performing an autopsy on former Pittsburg Steelers lineman, "Iron Mike" Webster, who died at the age of 50. Webster was known for never missing a football game from 1975 to 1986. Webster suffered from ailments such as dementia, delusions, paranoia and explosive moods for the last years of his life. Omalu states that CTE is caused by trauma by blunt force or acceleration-decleartion injuries through sports or car accidents. Some of the symptoms of CTE include depression, bipolar disorder, decrease in executive processing, substance abuse, impulsivity, memory loss and decreased intelligence and language. CTE can be diagnosed based on symptoms in those who are living but only a definitive diagnosis can be made after death. Omalu believes that eventually CTE could have a treatment or at least an intervention that can slow down how the disease progresses. 

Omalu believes that pharamological interventions may be more helpful than technological devices. He states that no children under the age of 18 should participate in activites like boxing, football, hockey, wrestling, mixed martial arts or rugby because the brain is not fully developed. In sports like soccer, he suggests removing "heading the ball" for those under 18 years of age and participation in soccer to start around the age of 12-14 years old. Some noncontact sports that could serve as alternatives include track and field, basketball, volleyball, badminton, tennis, swimming, table tennis, etc. He states that high-impact, high-contact sports put people at an increased risk of developing a brain injury, and that we should keep our children away from such activites. To find out more ways to keep you and your family healthy, please visit our website at www.oxborochiro.com. 

Source: https://experiencelife.com/article/cte-concussions-nfl-football/

Healthy Diet Tips

There are many diet trends that have been deemed the best ways of eating, but it is important to choose one that is truly healthy. Cynthia Sass, who is a registered dietician, writes in her article titled, “Why Going Vegetarian Isn’t Always Healthier” about the trend of going vegetarian and ways to make it healthier. Sass states that she is concerned about plant-based foods such as snack chips, cereals and fake bacon, that are becoming highly processed. Many of these plant-based foods are being stripped of their nutrients and additives are being included. A study looked at the effects of eating these types of plant-based foods and showed that they can raise someone’s risk of developing heart disease. The study did show that vegetarian diets are typically linked with a decreased risk of heart disease, but it does matter what types of food are being consumed. Those that consumed whole plant-based foods were found to have a lower risk, while those who ate highly processed plant-based foods were at increased risk of heart disease. 

Here are some tips that will help you to consume more plant-based foods that are healthy. Two cups of fresh fruit and five cups of vegetables should be eaten every day. Whole grains such as oats, quinoa, brown/white rice should be chosen over refined grains like white bread. Although whole grains are healthy, it is important to not overdo it. Meatless meals that provide healthy proteins should include “pulses” which are beans, lentil, peas and chickpeas. Fats that are included in a vegetarian diet should include avocado, extra virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, and nut butters. If the above foods are included into a vegetarian diet, it will help increase fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and prebiotics. Even if you want to consume a treat, it is critical that whole foods are the main part of any type of diet to keep your heart and body healthy. To find out more ways to keep yourself and family healthy, please visit our website at www.oxborochiro.com.

Source: http://www.health.com/food/vegetarian-diet-mistakes