A Painful Grudge

As a veteran chiropractor, I’ve seen my share of back pain.  It may come as a surprise that most people afflicted with back pain don’t have any idea what caused their back to “go out.” Many of the insurance companies have sought to uncover the cause of back pain through numerous studies.  Unfortunately, the only result to come out of these studies is that the cause of back pain is largely unknown.  In fact, the only consistent predictor of back pain is what is referred to as psychosocial stress – meaning back pain is often caused by factors such as financial, job, and relationship stress.

A study titled “A Painful Grudge” was released from the journal, The Back Letter.  The study reported, “Holding a grudge may somehow increase vulnerability to a heart attack, heart disease, hypertension, as well as peptic ulcer disease.”  Researchers found “bearing a grudge had an association with chronic back and neck problems, arthritis, and frequent headaches.”  This is one of many studies that show all forms of stress, physical, chemical, and emotional will impact the nervous system and affect physiology.  In this case, the lesson is to drop your grudge and practice forgiveness.  This type of forgiveness does not mean you need to agree with or condone the wrong that was done to you, but that you agree to forgive yourself and the other person so that you can move on for health’s sake.  Even the Mayo clinic is teaching people with chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia to practice forgiveness.  For more information on this, please contact our office.

Water Bottles

Water is essential for our joints, muscles and nearly all the millions of chemical reactions going on in our bodies.  In order to stay hydrated, many of us use plastic water bottles.  Some of us also reuse these water bottles. Unfortunately, research has revealed some alarming information about this habit.

Nearly all disposable bottles are made from a type of plastic called PET that does not stand up to repeated use, washing, heat, or harsh handling. After a few uses, the plastic starts to break down and leach into the water we drink and we digest this undesirable chemical. Some believe this toxin can contribute to different cancers.  The longer the bottle is used, the more likely the breakdown can occur. If you keep a bottle in your car, the summer heat will further speed up the process. Other studies have found that even if you wash your bottles frequently, you may not be able to prevent bacteria from building up on them.

Check the bottom of your plastic bottles; if there's a “1” inside the recycling symbol, it's only meant for one-time use and keep it out of the heat.  When reusing plastic bottles, you want the number to be greater than “3”.  Even a better solution is to put your daily water supply into glass or invest in a stainless steel water bottle.  Either way, keep drinking your water!

Overcoming Stress

Last week I touched on the detrimental effects of chronic stress.  The points I hope you remember are first that the stress response is a normal and programmed response consisting of a cascade of changes in the body all designed to help us survive a threatening (fight/flight) situation.  Secondly, like any habit, our nervous system learns to activate the stress response and over time we can go into to this reaction more easily or continuously.  While the stress response can help us survive a threat, the body changes that occur in the stress response are devastating over a sustained period of time.  So all we need to do is cut the stress, right?  Everyone knows, this is not always easy.

When in a time of stress with factors outside our control, there are several things we can and should do to minimize or turn off the stress response.  Positive thinking truly works by interrupting the negative thinking patterns that feed the stress response.  Making regular time for prayer and positive affirmations or writing in a gratitude journal every night before sleep really pays off.  Similarly, practicing meditation where you simply sit quietly and try to quiet your thoughts will also break the habit of negative thinking and stress.  Caffeine, nicotine, and sugar all stimulate the body and feed the stress response.  However, fruits and vegetables, particularly those rich in B-vitamins will aid to shut off stress at a brain level.  Likewise, lack of movement feeds stress while physical exercise stimulates the nerves that report to the brain and act to shut off the stress reaction.  You must eat well and get up and move to relieve stress!  Most people don’t know this, but massage and chiropractic care works much in the same way as exercise to combat the stress response.  Releasing muscle tension and adjusting the spine shuts off the stress producing nerve signals of pain and at the same time stimulates the signals that go to the emotional center of the brain to shut off the stress reaction.  Even though we often cannot control the situations that cause stress, this information should help you see the stress response as a brain phenomenon that can be altered or controlled.  Whether you choose to see a chiropractor or massage therapist, follow a healthy diet, work on positive thinking, or exercise, all of these methods are proven to help us adapt to our increasingly stressful environment.   

Stress

I recently found some new stats on stress.  In a survey of 30,000 people in 30 countries, it was reported that women who work full-time and have children have the greatest level of stress.  Half of the population reports that their stress level has gone up in the last year.  Eighty-one percent of Americans report that money is their number one source of stress.  As I’ve reported in the past, this chronic stress takes a toll.  The six leading causes of death have been linked to stress including cancer, heart disease, lung disease, suicide, accidents and cirrhosis of the liver.  Add to this the other diseases related to stress (diabetes, stroke, digestive disorders, depression/anxiety, hormone and reproductive problems and immune disorders) and stress is the greatest cause of death and disease we are facing.  Medical researchers estimate that stress is the underlying cause of 80% of all illness.  But I somehow doubt this comes as much of a shock to most people.

So what do we do about stress?  The first thing is to realize that stress is a perception that occurs in the brain.  I’ve heard it said, “It’s not the stress, it’s how we respond or react to the stress.”  We need to realize that the stress response is a programmed reaction that starts in the brain and is carried through different hormones and chemicals to change our physiology so that we can better respond to a threat.  This cascade of chemical reactions is measurable, reproducible, and predictable – it happens to some degree every time we perceive stress.  You also need to realize that the stress response is a perfect reaction!  The response is programmed in all of us in order to increase our chances of survival.  The problem is that when stress is perceived the process starts and the brain does not know or care whether we are threatened by money and taxes or confronted by a tiger – the reaction is the same.  The response that would be of benefit if we were running from a tiger is devastating over time with daily stresses of modern life.  The other problem is that our brain and nervous system is always learning and adapting.  In the same way that practicing the piano will make us a better player, practicing the perception of stress will send us more easily into the stress response.  Realize that stress is a habit that must be interrupted and then retrained and this takes practice.  Please check in next week and I will share several strategies on how to start this process that can make the biggest difference between health and disease.

Exercise and the Brain

How do you fix a broken brain?  For most of history, science has believed that the brain is stagnant and unchanging with fixed memory and potential.  We know the brain can lose function with trauma, drugs, alcohol, etc.  But nobody believed that the brain could repair or rebuild.

I’ve reported on this in the past, but another study released in Scientific American has shown that the previous beliefs about the brain’s limited potential are simply not true.  In reality, the brain has the potential to build and repair its cells and it is routinely laying down new ‘wiring’ to interconnect cells based on new experience for more efficiency.  In previous articles I’ve reported on ways to boost brain power.  But this recent study performed on animals shows that physical exercise is one of the strongest brain boosters and can double the number of cells found in the hippocampus.  This part of the brain has always been associated with converting short-term memory to long-term memory; explaining why exercise can improve memory.  Other literature suggests that the hippocampus is also involved with the stress response in the body.  This gives insight to how physical exercise is consistently the most effective stress reliever to decrease anxiety and depression.

I encounter many people that try to stay healthy with diet, rest, and positive thinking while neglecting any form of exercise.  While these are all critical factors, there is too much research like this study proving that you can never be as healthy as possible without including exercise as part of your lifestyle.

Cholesterol

Want the latest on cholesterol?

While some drug companies are pushing to have the cholesterol numbers lowered again, recently, the Mayo clinic did a study to see how lifestyle changes would compete with taking a prescription (statin) to lower cholesterol.  The results . . . there was no competition.

In the study, the first group took 40 mg of a commonly prescribed statin and their “bad cholesterol” number did go down.  The second group was given vitamins and fish oil and placed on a 12 week program of healthy diet and exercise.  They were taught the Mediterranean style diet.  They also learned about saturated fat and were instructed to limit overall fat consumption to under 25% and to reduce sugar and processed carbohydrates.  They worked with an exercise physiologist to gradually increase their exercise to 5-6 times per week for 30-45 minutes per day.

In the end, the medication group did lower their bad cholesterol number.  But the lifestyle group also lowered this number without any medication and reported feeling better, having more energy and losing weight.  Another bonus is that the good (healthy) cholesterol goes up with proper lifestyle and diet and this second group also benefited from lower triglycerides (not seen with the statin group).

Whether watching your cholesterol or not, we all can benefit from a Mediterranean diet, exercise, and omega 3 fatty acids (such as fish oil).  This combination reduces the inflammation in the body that is linked to high cholesterol, heart disease, and virtually every other disease as well.

Health Problems vs. Lifestyle

As a chiropractor, I see all kinds of physical complaints and pains especially involving the back.  I recently heard a speaker ask the question, “Is back pain really a back problem, or is it a health problem?”  The point he was making is that pain is not really the problem.  Pain is a programmed response that the body provides to let us know that there is a problem.  Pain is an electrical signal received in the brain.  You see, pain is like the smoke alarm that tells us there is a fire.  We spend money, time and effort fighting aches and pains without ever uncovering or even looking for the real problem.  We should be looking for cause rather than fighting the symptoms of pain.

The body is designed to heal on its own and when we have pain, especially chronic pain, this is the result of a problem that is failing to heal.  In other words, this is a health problem.  If you’ve been following this column, you know by now that most health problems can be linked to improper choices regarding lifestyle.  For this reason, when someone is having a pain, symptom, or health problem, I like to ask the question, “What is out of balance in your life?”  The common answers to this question include excess emotional stress, lack of exercise, poor diet, dehydration, poor posture, excessive caffeine, reactions to medications, lack of sleep, and all the other things discussed in this column.  The point is that many times the ultimate cause of problems is simple and yet we turn to complicated solutions rather than make changes.  I can’t tell you how many times a person’s pains are the result of a bad chair, pillow or mattress.  If you are dealing with any kind of health problem, please take time to analyze your lifestyle – more often than not the answer is right in front of you.