Organic or Not

 

Two years ago a study released by Stanford University questioned the value of purchasing and consuming organic foods.  Is it really worth the extra expense to purchase a brown banana that goes bad twice as fast?  Stanford concluded that the nutrient levels found in conventional vegetables are actually very similar to that of the organically grown variety.  Other studies dispute these findings, but even if Stanford has it correct, there are other important advantages to purchasing organic you should know about.

There have been 343 studies looking at the advocacy of organic vegetables over the last couple decades.  All these studies agree on a couple of things.  First it is well recognize that organic fruits and vegetables contain anywhere from 18-69 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown foods.  These antioxidants are known to reduce the risk of numerous chronic diseases and in particular several varieties of cancer.  Antioxidants are also linked to how quickly you age by reducing how quickly you oxidize or degenerate.  Think of this process similar to rusting.  This alone would justify the expense for eating organically, but there’s another important reason.  Studies agree that organic foods have fewer toxins and pesticide residues.  In fact, the difference in the levels of cadmium alone is thought to be on average 48% less.  Cadmium is a toxic metal that is known to be linked to numerous concerns.  Likewise, the levels of pesticide residues are found to be four times higher in conventional fruits and vegetables than in their organic counterparts.  These pesticides kill off the bad bugs that would eat away at the crops, but they also kill off the good bugs that should be found in healthy soil and should be passed onto the fruits and vegetables.  These are the probiotics that promote a healthy digestion and immune system and serve to reduce overall inflammation in the body.  The other bigger problem with the pesticides is that they too have been linked to different cancers and they are directly related to thyroid problems as I reported on a few weeks ago.  The thyroid maintains your metabolism and energy level and when it starts malfunctioning, this leads to many health problems but also increased weight particularly around the hips and thighs.

While the experts will still argue about the nutritional value of organic over conventional, I hope this other information makes a strong enough case to choose organic.  In my experience with thousands of clients, most of us simply need to eat more fruits and vegetables more regularly.  If you truly are looking for the very best source, then you’ll want to do your own homegrown organic vegetables or find a good source through a farmers’ market.  This takes more work and time, but these sources have been shown to have the highest levels of nutrition and probiotic levels as long as the grower is well trained in organic methods.

Sound Sleep

The psychology textbooks will teach you that there are four stages of sleep.  This is true, but when it comes to health and vitality, there are two levels that are highly restorative.  These are the deep sleep level and the rapid eye movement (REM) level of sleep.  Sleep experts like to refer to these levels similar to nourishment where deep sleep is like water and REM sleep is like food for the mind.  In the end you need both!  While required amounts of sleep vary from person-to-person, most experts agree that if you’re getting less than seven hours per night, you simply are not getting enough of these deeper levels of sleep.  For this article, I found some new data on why getting the proper amount and the proper type of sleep is so important.

To prevent sleep deprivation and the host of health problems it accompanies, we should commit to at least seven hours of sleep per night.  In general, you should look at your energy levels through the day.  If your energy is steady and consistent you’re probably doing o.k.  The next question is how deep is your sleep?  It turns out dreaming is very important and it occurs in the latter third of our sleep time within that REM stage.  It generally takes 4-5 hours to get into this level.  Research has proven that dreaming is tied to our memory and our ability to learn from the information that we’ve acquired over the last few days.  When we dream, the hippocampus portion of the brain becomes very active.  This part of the brain is known to convert short-term memory into long–term memory.  Think of this as downloading recent information that you’ve learned or experienced onto your hard-drive.  When you’re not getting into this deepest level of sleep your memory will suffer and you stop adding to who you are.

I find that many people simply have trouble sleeping.  Many times this is due to pain or discomfort and many times it is due to a chronic level of subconscious stress.  Fortunately for me, one of the most common “side-effects” of chiropractic adjustments to remove stress from the nervous system is . . . better sleep.  If you are someone who has trouble sleeping, you will want to make certain your sleep area is dark, quiet, and cool.  For many people, the electromagnetic fields created by cell phones, TV, alarm clocks, and electric blankets will mess with your energy and deter proper sleep.  Try to move these devices away from your bed.  Likewise, the blue light that comes from television, computers and phones will suppress melatonin production.  Melatonin is important for sleep, but it also has potent anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer benefits.  For these reasons, you should try to shut down all electronics for about an hour before sleep.

In the end, most sleep problems are not the result of inadequate sleepiness, but are due to excessive wakefulness.  Most people are simply running too hard and are revved up due to stress and stimulants.  Find some habit after you unplug the electronics to slow your system down!  As I’ve reported numerous times, meditation and yoga can be very effective for slowing your brain down and calming the stress hormones.  Go to the internet or YouTube and find guided meditations.  Even if you just listen to these before going to sleep, your results will often be improved.

A Double Cross

As a chiropractor, neck pain, headaches, and shoulder pain or tension are some of the most common complaints that walk through the doors.  While spinal adjustments are usually very effective at providing relief for these symptoms, just like with any health problem, when you go back to the very same lifestyle habits or routines that were the root cause of the problem to begin with, the pain or ailment often returns.  When it comes to spinal or muscular pain, the root cause is often very simple – our posture and daily activity alter the alignment, balance, and function of our spine as well as the muscles that move and support our spine.  In recent decades, we have become world–class sitters and the posture we assume during prolonged hours of sitting becomes the regular posture of our spines.  In the upper back and neck, this postural distortion is known as Upper-Crossed Syndrome.

In Upper-Crossed Syndrome (UCS), tightness of the upper shoulder or trapezius muscles on the back side “crosses” with tightness of the chest muscles on the front side from sitting with rounded shoulders.  Likewise, weakness of the front neck muscles crosses with weakness of the middle back muscles as a result of not using these muscles when we sit. This pattern of imbalance creates joint dysfunction, particularly in the neck and upper back.  Think of this phenomenon literally as a tug-of-war on the muscles and internal structures.  This imbalance and stress on the spine correlates with the primary areas of spinal misalignment or subluxation, disc degeneration, and arthritic change we commonly see in the spine as we age.  These postural changes seen in UCS, include forward head posture, tension up the back side of the neck, loss of curvature in the neck and an increased curvature or “humping” in the upper back resulting in “winging” of the shoulders.  In addition to neck and upper back pain, these postural changes are known to cause numerous problems and excessive wear-and-tear in the shoulder joints.  While this postural change is very common, it is also completely preventable and usually reversible.

Think of what your neck, upper back, and shoulders look like when you sit at a computer, drive in a car, or relax on the couch.  The head is forward and bent, and the upper back and shoulders are rounded.  The good news is that when you work to reverse this posture, the syndrome and the pain associated with it can be reversed as well.  In this case you simply need to perform stretches and exercises to move the head backward to bring the ears over the shoulders.  Similarly you need to perform stretches to open up the chest and exercises to strengthen the shoulder blades and bring the upper back into extension.  In most cases, it may take several months to reverse these changes, but for someone suffering from chronic upper back, shoulder, neck pain, and tension headaches the work is worth the effort.  Reversing these postural distortions is also the key to getting the longest lasting results with your chiropractic care by addressing the root cause of these particular spinal problems.  If you’ve been dealing with these problems, I encourage you to get with a chiropractor who incorporates this work or simply look up Upper-Crossed Syndrome to learn more about the appropriate exercises.