Healthy Life Newsletter March 2021

 

A few more thoughts about vaccinations from Dr. Mha Atma

I was fortunate to receive my second Covid vaccination on Valentine's Day.  The following day I was a bit tired, my arm was sore, and I had slight chills.  I was able to work in the morning OK, took a nap in the afternoon, went to bed early, and was fine the following day.

As I said last month, I've never received a flu vaccine, nor any others (other than tetanus after a bike accident) for about 35 years, but the Covid vaccine in my opinion is a great thing to do for almost everyone.  Like wearing masks, getting this vaccine is something we do not only for ourselves but for our family, friends, and our entire society and planet.  While everything we do in life has some risk, these vaccines have been shown to be extremely safe and effective, and the risk of having Covid, even if you're very healthy, is much greater.

Many folks do want to be vaccinated but can't access it yet, which is a drag.  Meanwhile, a healthy diet, taking plenty of vitamin D (and C and magnesium and zinc), and exercise,  along with following the basic health protocols is likely to keep you safe from getting very sick if you do get infected, although not safe from spreading it to others.  But getting vaccinated AND the healthy lifestyle approach together is the very best. Hopefully within the next few months everyone will have access.

My other concern is for the rest of humanity.  As of now 130 countries have received zero vaccines.  If folks in poorer nations do not get vaccinated relatively soon, there will be more suffering and economic disruption AND the virus will have more opportunity to mutate further, and potentially mutations that really do overcome our vaccines (so far they don't significantly) could come back to us.  So I have called my Congressional reps to ask them to demand that the Biden adminstration push to suspend patenting rules for the Covid vaccines, so that factories the world over can manufacture them without having to pay the companies that made them.  When Jonas Salk, creator of the first polio vaccine, was asked about patents, he replied "Should you patent the sun?"


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In the Flow  (by Dr. Hari Bhajan Singh Khalsa---Dr. Mha Atma's chiropractor)

Imagine a river flowing powerfully through the land. Your mind is like that river-carrying your thoughts, memories, ideas and self-awareness through the landscape of your Being. You can harness the power of your mind, in order to nurture your body, mind and spirit just as water nourishes the plants. Your mind acts as a powerful ally to help you achieve your goals and dreams. Unchecked, it can reap destruction, much like a flood.

Meditation is a time-tested technique for controlling the flow of the mind. Over the ages, yogis and sages have developed ways to channel the mind's power for healing and inner peace. Today, you can spend time and money on self-help courses, therapy and doctors, but meditation can also be a daily practice to bring to bear all the gifts that the mind has to offer. You can grow your perceptions, feelings and visions in a way that will shower you with calmness, clarity and purpose. So pull up your meditation mat, engage your mind and flow gently down the stream.


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A Fitter You = A Better Fighter Against COVID-19 Complications
 
While vaccine seems destined to remain the buzzword when it comes to COVID, let's not forget about natural options that, while they may not prevent COVID-19 infection, appear to reduce the chances you'll suffer serious consequences if you do end up contracting the virus.
 
Case in point:  a new study that suggests adults who score high on an exercise stress test are less likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 compared to  patients who score lower. Patients who completed the test between Jan. 1, 2016 and Feb. 29, 2020, received a test for SARS-CoV-2 between Feb. 29, 2020 and May 30, 2020.  Among patients who tested positive, peak metabolic equivalents of task (METs), a measure of maximal exercise capacity, were significantly higher in patients not hospitalized compared to patients who were hospitalized.
 
The researchers' conclusion, published along with their findings in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, makes the value of these study results clear: "Maximal exercise capacity is independently and inversely associated with the likelihood of hospitalization due to COVID-19. These data further support the important relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and health outcomes."

 

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Are Personal-Care Products Messing With Your Hormones?
 
The trend away from makeup, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic when working from home has become the norm and nights "out on the town" have been rare, may have a big bonus when it comes to women's health. According to new research, teenage girls who take even a short break from cosmetics experience a "significant drop in hormone-disrupting chemicals." Incredibly, it took only three days for significant improvements to be noticed.

 

And don't think makeup is the only culprit to consider; according to the study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, avoiding personal care products including soap, sunscreen, shampoo, conditioner and other hair products containing chemicals such as phthalates, parabens, tricolsan and oxybenzone appeared to be just as effective.
 
Specifically, the three-day switch to lower-chemical products revealed a significant drop in chemicals in the body, measured via urine samples. Methyl and propyl parabens (common use: cosmetics preservatives) declined by 44 percent and 45 percent, respectively; metabolites of diethyl phthalate (common use: perfumes) declined by 27 percent; and triclosan and benzophenone-3 both declined by 36 percent.
 
What's the lesson? It's just as true about personal care products as it is about health care in general: think natural! Always consider what you're putting into or on your body, whether a food, medication, cosmetic or anything else. 

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Does Your Dental Health Impact Whole-Body Health?
 
Who knew your teeth could have such a profound influence on your overall health. New research suggests people with poor dental hygiene leading to periodontal / gum disease are more likely to have increased insulin resistance and other indicators of metabolic syndrome – a constellation of risk factors that can lead to type 2 diabetes and other health issues.
 
In the study, researchers correlated infection with Porphyyromonas gingivalis, a periodontal bacterium, with the development of metabolic syndrome / metabolic dysfunction in skeletal muscle (which have a high metabolic capacity that aids in glucose metabolism). They then determined that infection may compromise the gastrointestinal microbiome, leading to metabolic syndrome. Study findings appear in The FASEB Journal.
 
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by a group of concurrent conditions that elevate the risk of not only type 2 diabetes, but also heart disease and stroke. High blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess abdominal body fat, and high cholesterol / triglyceride levels are the primary conditions that lead to a metabolic syndrome diagnosis. If you suffer from any of the above conditions and you're not practicing good dental hygiene, you're on the fast road for major health issues that are easily avoided with a few simple lifestyle changes. Your doctor can tell you more about how to avoid metabolic syndrome and enjoy lasting whole-body health.

 

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A Drug-Free Way to Treat Headaches: Chiropractic Care
By Perry Nickelston, DC, FMS, SFMA
 
More Americans complain about headaches than any other health condition, including back pain; in fact, approximately 45 million Americans say they suffer headaches each year.
 
That's one in every six people or more than 16 percent of the population. More than 8 million Americans visit their doctor seeking relief for symptoms of headaches each year. Unfortunately, the most popular treatment is over-the-counter pain relievers or prescription medication.
 
There is some good news when it comes to headaches. There are safe and effective natural solutions available to help reduce or eliminate the symptoms of various headache types. For example, chiropractic treatment is a highly sought-after alternative treatment for the debilitating effects associated with headaches. Let's learn about that headache you may be suffering from and how chiropractic can help you get rid of it.
 
Headaches 101
 
Tension headaches: The most common type of headache is the tension headache. It is estimated that 80-90 percent of the U.S. population suffers from tension headaches at some point in their lives. There are two primary types of tension headaches:
  
  • Episodic : Headaches appear occasionally, usually less than 15 times per month.
  • Chronic : Headaches occur more than 15 times per month or on a consistent basis.
 
Tension headaches are intimately connected to abnormal posture, muscular tightness, joint stiffness, and restricted range of motion in the body. To obtain optimum health and function, it is important to remember that everything is connected and everything matters. Dysfunctional patterns of movement and posture affect how much tension and stress your body holds. The body must compensate for these dysfunctional patterns by any means necessary, and it accomplishes this by altering tension points.
 
Muscles attach to anchor points on bone and act as primary movers and stabilizers for your body. Mover muscles are used get you from point A to point B, such as a getting up out of a chair. Stabilizer muscles control that movement so you don't fall down while standing up. Abnormal posture and altered tension points on bone anchors puts too much wear and tear on muscles and joints. Your brain and nervous system must compensate for this dysfunction by altering blood flow, muscle movement patterns and breathing. These alterations often lead to tension headaches.
 
Migraines: The second most common type of headache is the migraine headache. Approximately 16-17 percent of the population complains of migraines. These headaches are far more debilitating than the tension-type headaches. More women than men suffer from migraine headaches, leading researchers to believe there may be a hormonal component to migraines. The majority of migraine sufferers report some sort of trigger that kicks of their headaches (food, drink, smell, etc).
 
How Chiropractic Can Help

Chiropractic care can help alleviate the symptoms of tension and migraine headaches by improving and restoring normal postural patterns. Chiropractic treatment is aimed at normalizing muscle tension, restoring joint range of motion, and stabilizing the body to reduce abnormal stressors. Optimizing postural control of the head and neck reduces the workload your muscles must apply just to keep your head up during the day. Proper spinal alignment and muscle control helps give the body a fighting chance of avoiding a tension headache.
 
Proper breathing is essential to relaxation, blood flow, and oxygen supply to the brain and body. Abnormal posture, which can include such dysfunctions as rounded shoulders, neck forward over the shoulders, slouched positions and tightness in the hips from sitting all day, decrease lung capacity. This decreased capacity alters how much you breathe, how often, and from where.
 
Headache sufferers tend to breathe more from their chest and shoulders as opposed to their diaphragm. This leads to repeated elevation of the shoulders and upper back muscles hundreds of times a day, leading to increased tension in the head and neck. Chiropractic restores function to the spine, ribs, and hips to maximize breathing and good postural control. Better breathing equals better health.
 
If you're suffering from headaches and are tired of taking pain-relieving medication day after day, your doctor of chiropractic will work closely with you to determine likely triggers for your headaches and make subtle changes in your activities of daily living to empower you to take back control of your life.

 

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Surgery: The Ultimate Placebo   By Ronald Feise, DC
 
(Note from Dr. Mha Atma:  This article was written for chiropractors but I wanted to share it with you--quite understandable.)
 
A patient tells you his father has had low back pain for several years and has tried many treatments, but nothing has helped. Spinal fusion has been recommended. Complicating matters, his father lives on the other side of the country. How do you respond? What does the current research demonstrate?
 
Obviously, you want to get his father into the hands of a competent chiropractor who can do a comprehensive case history and examination, and determine whether he can be helped with chiropractic treatment. To facilitate this process, you want to provide your patient with some relevant research. Fortunately, a recently published resource addresses this type of surgery, among others.
 
What an Orthopedic Surgeon Says About Spinal Surgery

The book is "Surgery, The Ultimate Placebo" by Dr. Ian Harris (1) – not only a practicing orthopedic surgeon, but also a professor of orthopedic surgery. He is a widely published research scientist and expert on spinal fusion. The book is well-researched and written in a very approachable manner. Here's what Dr. Harris says about spinal surgery:
 
"[T]here is very little evidence that spine fusion surgery for back pain is effective. It is very expensive, often leads to complications, often requires further surgery, is associated with increased mortality, and often does not even result in the spine being fused."
 
"Millions of people have had spine fusions for back pain, and I am not at all convinced that the benefits of this surgery outweigh the considerable harms."
"Somebody is winning here, and it isn't the patients."
 
This information is important not only for this patient's father, but also your entire practice. (You might consider having a copy of the book in your reception room, with pertinent pages marked for easy reference.)
 
Spine Surgery: Important Facts to Understand and Share With Patients
 
In addition to Dr. Harris's book, you can also provide some additional facts about spinal surgery. (See the "Spinal Surgical Rate" chart.) The U.S. has the highest rate of cervical and lumbar spine surgery in the world – roughly 200 percent that of New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Norway and Finland, and 340 percent of that of  the U.K.

 

 
You might assume that Americans must have higher rates of spinal pain or more severe conditions, but you would be wrong. There are no biological differences from country to country, and epidemiological studies demonstrate that rates of neck and back pain are similar among geographic areas. Could surgeon profits be the underlying cause of excessive surgeries?
 
Serious adverse events caused by spinal surgery are remarkably common. Several published studies conducted by independent medical research teams found that the reoperation rate (failure rate) for spinal surgery is greater than 22 percent (2) Serious postoperative pain and disability can be experienced by more than 29 percent of patients.(3-4) Death rates following spinal surgery are about 1 per 1,000 operations, and blindness following spinal surgery is estimated at more than 1 per 1,000 operations.(5-7)
 
Can you imagine if chiropractors had death rates at 1 per 1,000 patients? Keep in mind, both professions do not treat dissimilar patient populations.
 
Spinal surgeons have failed to demonstrate benefit for spinal surgery related to disc degeneration, disc herniation, or neck or back pain. To date, spinal surgeons have failed to provide scientific evidence of surgical effectiveness sufficiently large to meet the FDA threshold for clinically meaningful benefit.
 
References
  
  • Harris I. Surgery, The Ultimate Placebo: A Surgeon Cuts Through the Evidence. University of New South Wales Press, 2016.
  • Kim CH, et al. The long-term reoperation rate following surgery for lumbar herniated intervertebral disc disease: a nationwide sample cohort study with a 10-year follow-up. Spine, 2019;44:1382-1389.
  • Ohnmeiss DD, et al. Effect of adverse events on low back surgery outcome: twenty-four-month follow-up results from a Food And Drug Administration investigational device exemption trial. Spine, 2010;35:835-8.
  • Pieber K, et al. Predictors of an unfavorable outcome 1.5 and 12 years after a first, uncomplicated lumbar disc surgery. Eur Spine J, 2016;25:3520-3527.
  • Myers MA, et al. Visual loss as a complication of spine surgery. A review of 37 cases. Spine, 1997;22:1312-1319.
  • Roth S, Barach P. Postoperative visual loss. Still no answers - yet. Editorial views. Anesthesiology, 2001;95:575-577.
  • Wang MC, et al. Complications and mortality associated with cervical spine surgery for degenerative disease in the United States. Spine, 2007;32:342-7.