Your Best Solution for Anxiety

woman using mindfulness meditation to relieve anxiety
Meditation is not just for hippies any more

The Benefits of Meditation For Anxiety in Difficult Times

Do you have tense muscles? Are your shoulders creeping up toward your ears? Do you obsess about the news? Do you have anxiety about your future? Difficulty sleeping? All of the above? You’re definitely not alone. There’s no doubt that we are all living with a lot of uncertainty right now.

So how can we cope when we don’t know if we’ll keep our job if we can pay our rent or mortgage, if we can keep putting food on the table, if we can save for our retirement or our children’s education?

How Doing Nothing Helps You Cope with Everything

The answer might be as simple as doing nothing, simply sitting still and purposefully clearing your thoughts through meditation. Studies show that it has an astounding number of benefits that are vital in situations just like this.

In fact, fostering an ongoing meditation practice actually changes the structure of your brain. That change provides benefits that continue even when you have finished meditating.

In short, meditation just may be one of the best things you can do for yourself in these troubled times. Will it put food on the table? No. But, it may get your brain out of the current “fight or flight” pattern that makes clear-headed decision making next to impossible. That way you can make a clear and decisive path forward.

Five Benefits Of Meditation

Here are just a few of the many positive things that happen when you meditate:

Lower Blood Pressure

As I mentioned, meditation decreases the “flight or fight” hormones in your body. As a result of this relaxation response, your blood vessels open up, which in turn improves your blood pressure if it tends to be high.

Less Stress-Induced Inflammation

Excess cortisol, one of your main stress hormones, increases blood sugar, which then increases insulin, which leads to inflammation in many parts of your body. A common example of this is in your gut. Digestive issues are common during times of high stress. Because meditation lowers the amount of cortisol you produce, inflammation is reduced.

Embracing Uncertainty

Despite all of the health benefits, the ultimate goal of meditation isn’t necessarily focused on physical results. It’s more a process of learning to embrace uncertainty. It’s not about eliminating or controlling the storm, it’s about learning to be still and calm despite the storm going on around you.

A More Optimistic Outlook

Who doesn’t need a more positive outlook right now? Meditation has been found to actually alter (in a good way) the parts of your brain responsible for positive thoughts. As well, by becoming more aware of your thoughts, you can fend off negativity. There are many health benefits to having a positive, optimistic attitude. In fact, studies show that higher optimism is a significant predictor of better survival, better cardiovascular outcomes, improved physiological markers (including immune function), better outcomes related to pregnancy, fewer physical symptoms, and reduced pain.

Reduced Anxiety And Rumination

It’s perfectly normal to be experiencing anxiety and worries about health and financial security when you are faced with something as stressful as a pandemic. However, when those thoughts spiral out of control they can negatively affect your family members as well as your own mental and physical health. High cortisol levels even lower your immune response, and we all need a strong immune system right now.

How Does Meditation Help With Negative Thoughts?

It may be difficult to imagine reining in the out-of-control, off-the-rails thought train when world events, and substantial changes to our daily lives, are so overwhelming.

However, meditation teaches us how to experience those thoughts without panicking or feeling the need to repress them. With a little practice, you should be able to just sit with your thoughts and feelings, without judgment or analysis, and start to process them without spiralling out of control. You can be present in the moment without projecting into the future or ruminating on the past.

And right now, faced with so many uncertainties, that’s particularly beneficial.

Why Start Meditating Now?

You might feel that now is not a good time to start meditation. After all, you’re likely stuck at home and perhaps feel antsy and confined. Who wants to sit still? However, meditation has proven to be an effective mental health treatment. Right now we need to be focusing not just on keeping a healthy body but also maintaining a healthy mind.

How To Meditate

Many people find the thought of taking up meditation a bit intimidating. After all, it has had a reputation of being “weird” and “fringe” throughout the ages. It’s important to know that you don’t have to “master” meditation. It’s OK to be imperfect. Your mind will probably wander, and you may feel uncomfortable at first. That’s perfectly normal.

Setting Up Your Practice

The good news is that it’s surprisingly simple to get started. In basic terms, you just need to:

  • Find a comfortable place. Ideally, somewhere that is quiet.
  • Sit in a natural, relaxed position.
  • Breathe normally.
  • Focus on your breath.

Try not to overthink this: just focus on each exhalation and inhalation. It’s not necessary to force anything.

  • If your mind wanders (and since you’re human, there’s a good chance that it will) try to sit back and “observe” your thoughts. Don’t analyze them. And don’t berate yourself for losing focus. It’s all part of the process. They are just passing through your brain.

How Long Should You Meditate For?

You may have heard of people going on week-long meditation retreats. That’s great – but it’s not really necessary. Just a few minutes a day is a good start. In fact, studies have found that just five minutes of meditation has significant benefits.

And who can’t fit 5 minutes of meditation into their day?

How Often Should You Meditate?

As with many things, consistency is a key component of a successful meditation practice. Try to carve out a few minutes per day to dedicate to your mental health. Some people find that it helps to make it the same time every day. Some find that doing 5 minutes in the morning as soon as they wake up and setting an intention for the day helps. Others will do 5 minutes as they are going to bed at night. And other people find it beneficial to do 5 minutes here and there throughout the day when they are feeling the most anxious. There is no hard and fast rule. Do what works for you.

Ok, full disclosure here, I have a hard time with meditating. I find it hard to just be still and “do nothing”. But here’s what I can do. After I have done my morning yoga, and I reach the end. I’m lying on my back in Shavasana or Corpse pose, then I can add 5 more minutes to just clear my mind and prepare for the rest of my day. That’s what works best for me with meditation.

Resources To Get Your Meditation Practice Started

There are quite a few wonderful resources available to help you get started with meditation should you need a little help – here are a few of our favourites:

Headspace

Calm

Wherever You Go, There You Are

Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics

There are many reasons to start meditation. Why not start now? Let us know how it works for you and remember that we are here to support your health and wellness.

Need more help?

Our clinic is still (virtually) open via telehealth (phone or video call) with our naturopaths, our chiropractor, our dietitian, and our psychotherapist. Chiropractor Dr. Darlene Buan-Basit is available for in-person essential care appointments. Simply send us an email at Maria@ForcesofNature.ca, leave a message 416-481-0222 or book online.

By Dr. Pamela Frank, BSc(Hons), ND

Meditation Research

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25390009

https://www.npr.org/2008/08/21/93796200/to-lower-blood-pressure-open-up-and-say-om

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159112004758

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159112004758

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5946075_Relationships_between_mindfulness_practice_and_levels_of_mindfulness_medical_and_psychological_symptoms_and_well-being_in_a_mindfulness-based_stress_reduction_program

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306624X19856232

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Effects-of-Five-Minute-Mindfulness-Meditation-on-Lam-Sterling/7a7529a9e6401679016ab78f398eaaf4487aff84

https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2003/07000/Alterations_in_Brain and_Immune_Function_Produced.14.aspx

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19711142

Digital Detox: Taking Back Control of Your Screen Time

teens with social media addiction
Social Media Addiction?

Conquering Your Social Media Addiction

Do you ever felt anxious when you don’t have your phone? Do you know how many hours per day you spend on your digital devices? Do you feel that your online activities have a positive or a negative impact on your overall well-being?

These are all important questions. And another to consider: Does doing a digital detox feel like a good idea for your health? Or does it simply sound impossible?

What is a Digital Detox?

A digital detox is taking a break from all technology for a set period of time. You may decide to take one day per week away from your digital devices or you may choose to avoid all technology for the duration of your vacation. This digital break is however long you choose to make it. If you are trying to break or change a habit, it can take 3 weeks of a consistent change in behavior to make that happen. Taking a break demonstrates a certain level of self-control over technology, rather than having it control you.

A More Conscious Approach To Technology

The truth is that we could all benefit from a more mindful approach to our digital lives. For many of us, a short “detox” period helps us to maintain our perspective where technology is concerned.

The Why: The Benefits Of Reducing Screen time

If you’re wondering about why you should reduce your screen time, check out these potential benefits.

Less Comparison

Do you ever feel like your life isn’t quite measuring up after logging into your social media accounts? Many of us end up wondering why everyone else takes such fabulous vacations, looks so amazing, and has such perfect, high-achieving children.

The old adage “don’t compare your insides to everyone else’s outsides” applies perfectly to social media. The cumulative effect of “comparison-itis” takes a significant toll on our mental health. Many studies confirm a link between internet use and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

Better Mental Health

Of course, this relationship may work both ways. For example, have you ever looked down at your cell phone to avoid social interactions? Sometimes we see our phones as “security blankets.” Unfortunately, however, these kinds of habits only reinforce anxiety and isolation. In other words, in addition to triggering anxiety and depression, we are more likely to escape to the online world when we’re anxious or depressed.

Excessive time on digital devices also leads to habits that harm our mental and physical health. One study found that people who spend a great deal of time on their phones are less likely to eat regular meals, follow a healthy diet, and get a good night’s sleep. That all adds up to an increased risk of depression, obesity and a host of other health issues.

Taking a break from your devices helps you feel happier, and physically and mentally healthier.

Improved Brain Function

Even more alarming is the physical effect of screen time on our brain. It’s true! Screen time actually has the potential to change the structure of our brain. The negative effects of chronic exposure to digital media on our brains include:

  1. Impaired processing
  2. Reduced ability to focus, and
  3. “Dopamine loops” in which we become addicted to the hit from the feel-good chemical dopamine. When you have a positive social interaction on social media, your brain releases the reward neurotransmitter dopamine. Who doesn’t get a small thrill of satisfaction when someone likes their Instagram post? That kind of instant gratification is often missing from our offline lives. In fact, researchers have found that the dopamine cycle connected to Internet use and video games is similar to that experienced with drug addiction.

Conversely, breaking your addiction to screens helps your brain recover its ability to focus, and process information.

How to Increase Dopamine Naturally

If you are needing more dopamine, there are much healthier ways to get it:

  • Eat protein regularly. The building blocks of protein are called amino acids. One particular amino acid, tyrosine, is needed to help your brain make dopamine.
  • Sleep well. Quantity, quality, and sleep-timing are all important factors in the production of dopamine. Aim for 7-9 hours per night of deep sleep and aim to sleep by 10-11 p.m. and wake up by 6-7 a.m.
  • Reduce your saturated fat intake. Saturated fat impairs dopamine signaling.
  • Eat probiotic-rich foods. Certain good bacteria in your gut make dopamine.
  • Exercise regularly. Exercise also provides a hit of the reward neurotransmitter dopamine.
  • Meditate. Meditation has mental and physical benefits that may be due to the release of dopamine. If it’s not really your thing, aim for even 5 minutes per day when you first wake up or when you are going to bed.
  • Get outside. Sun exposure increases dopamine levels.
  • Improve your diet. In order to make dopamine, your brain needs to have tyrosine from protein, and iron, niacin, folate, magnesium and vitamin B6. Green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, Swiss chard, and romaine provide these vitamins and minerals.

More Restful Sleep

The blue light from our digital devices adversely affects our melatonin production. The result? Difficulty falling and staying asleep. Even more troubling are the possible links between blue light exposure at night, reduced melatonin and an increased risk for diabetes, cancer, and depression.

Better Posture

You may have experienced a “tech neck” or a sore thumb after spending a long time on your phone. As well, researchers note that the slumping posture that develops while using digital devices also affects your breathing. One study found that 83 percent of people with neck pain have altered breathing patterns. Musculoskeletal aches and pains like this are best handled by a chiropractor.

Recent sensational headlines claimed that our device use is causing “horns” or phone bone. This interpretation of anthropological research was at best overblown and at worst, completely false. Of potentially greater concern, is that your intervertebral discs may get damaged from having your neck perpetually bent looking at your phone. See a chiropractor for help with your intervertebral discs. There is also an increased risk for neck osteoarthritis from this prolonged and unusual neck position.

Better Hormonal and Cell Health

One researcher found that people tend to hold their breath when checking their devices. This habit triggers the “fight or flight “response, in which your body goes into survival mode. That process served us well in the past when this response helped us escape our predators. Nowadays if all you’re doing is checking a social media status and holding your breath, you just wind up with a lot of unnecessary glucose, adrenaline, and cortisol in your system.

As well, our increased reliance on technology has led to high levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation in our bodies. Although the long-term effects need to be studied further, some evidence links this exposure to an increased risk of neurological disease.

Are you ready for a digital detox?

So, how exactly does a digital detox look? Ultimately, it’s up to you. If you’re inspired by the list of possible benefits above, you may be ready to implement your own detox from technology. However, as with many behavior modifications, a slow and realistic approach is often more successful. Your long-term goal could be a weekend (or even a week) without any devices.

Digital Detox Retreats

Digital-detox retreats are a growing trend in the travel business and provide opportunities to be pampered in spa-like conditions or to pursue recreation adventures, all without a digital device. There are alternative free options too, of course, such as implementing your own retreat! Examples include planning a weekend hike in a local area and connecting with nature or spending time indoors playing with your kids, reading a book or writing your journal. Be creative!

If you’re reading this blog post the day it was first published, I’ll be doing my own digital-detox at Arrowhead Provincial Park near Huntsville. Forest bathing, downtime, reconnecting with family and nature, great food, campfires, and digital-detox all rolled into one wonderful week.

Creating Healthy Digital Habits

Before starting a cold-turkey detox, it’s a good idea to simply be more mindful of your device use. Pay attention to when and why you pick up your phone. As with unhealthy eating habits, it is a good idea to journal your internet/device use. It helps you identify unhealthy patterns of use. Do you pick it up when you’re bored? In an awkward social situation? In the bathroom? First thing when you wake up? In the middle of the night if you wake up? Make it a habit to put your phone away if you don’t need it. Commit to unplugging from any digital devices at least an hour before bedtime.

Fighting FOMO

As you adjust to having reduced online time in your life, try going an entire day without checking a device. This might be uncomfortable at first. Recognize your FOMO (fear of missing out) feelings and acknowledge that if something really urgent happened, you would hear about it. Remind yourself that you don’t actually need to know every detail of your friends’ lives or every piece of the celebrity or political gossip in real-time. In other words, the sense of urgency that the internet creates is imagined, not real.

Top Tips For Your Digital Detox

Here are some tips that can help you set up your own digital detox retreat, on a level that works for you.

Make your bedroom a cellphone-free zone

Bedrooms are for sleeping, and shouldn’t be associated with cellphone use. If you don’t have a landline you may worry that your loved ones won’t be able to contact you in an emergency. For example, if you have teenage kids who work or stay out late at night and they are trying to call you. The solution is to simply put your cellphone on the other side of the room, with the volume turned up high enough so that you can hear it. Also, put it face down so that other screen activity or notifications won’t disturb your sleep.

Choose your activities wisely

Even in today’s wired world, you can find places where cell phones can’t be used. If you’re swimming, hiking, practicing yoga, or watching a movie, you can’t check your Facebook updates. As an added bonus, you will end up having more fun.

Go “old school”

We think of our phones as indispensable, but for centuries, people survived without them just fine. Fortunately, many “real-life” tools exist that can do the tasks we rely on our phones for. If you’re worried about losing the functions on your phone, consider a few old-fashioned alternatives:

  • A paper calendar or day planner to book appointments
  • An alarm clock to wake up
  • Books – read them in yellow or natural light
  • Letters or cards sent through the post office. Who doesn’t love receiving an old-fashioned, hand-written letter?
  • A classic watch
  • A camera
  • A landline phone. We tend to think of the landline as unnecessary, but just over 40 percent of households still have one, and they provide a reliable back-up for getting in touch.

Reschedule your email habits

Many busy executives try to put aside specific times of the day for checking email. That means that they’re not looking for new messages every 30 seconds, or reading every notification. If this makes you feel anxious, remind yourself that in most instances, emails don’t need an immediate response. For more prolonged absences, use an out-of-office autoresponder to let people know how to contact you in an emergency.

Use technology

Yes, the idea that technology can help to reduce your tech use is ironic. However, many apps and programs can measure the time you spend on your phone. They will also measure time “wasted” online. You can free up an hour or two per day in the real world for more beneficial pursuits by reducing the time that you are wasting online. If you don’t do this already, try monitoring it for a few days to get a baseline of your usage.

Get your friends and family on board

If you have contacts who expect an immediate response to every text, let them know you’re dialing back on your screen time.

Similarly, if you’re out at a restaurant for dinner, challenge everyone to put their phones away. The first one to check their device pays!

Listen to your body

How do you feel after a few hours without technology? Get in touch with any anxiety you feel that needs to be addressed. It’s also important to note the positives. Do you take in more of the world around you? Do you feel more relaxed? Were you able to get a lot more crossed off of your “to-do” list?

Get help if you need it

If you’re worried about your digital media use or if you’re wondering if you’re addicted to technology, help is available! Give our office a call if you’d like to talk about behavior modification or switching to a more health-conscious natural path with one of our naturopaths.

Call us at 416-481-0222 or book online here

Authored by Dr Pamela Frank, BSc(Hons), Naturopath


Sources:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/new-study-links-phone-use-and-mental-health-issues-in-teens/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5970452/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563215303332

https://www.ejradiology.com/article/S0720-048X%2809%2900589-0/abstract

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/brain-wise/201209/why-were-all-addicted-texts-twitter-and-google

https://www.statista.com/chart/2072/landline-phones-in-the-united-states/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/just-breathe-building-the_b_85651

Hidden Toxins in Your Home are Harming Your Health

pic showing natural cleaning products

Here’s Why and What to Do About Toxic Chemicals

How is your home affecting your health? Cigarette smoke is an obvious toxin in the air. Assuming you don’t smoke, you may feel fairly confident that your home is not toxic. If you clean your home regularly, you might even be slightly offended by the suggestion that your home may be toxic! However, indoor air pollutants are much more common than most people realize. The sources of many pollutants are everyday objects and products that we don’t consider harmful.

What is an Environmental Toxin?

Toxins are chemicals that are harmful to human beings. Environmental toxins are those that are found in the environment around us, our food, water, air, and surfaces that we are in contact with.

We read and hear about outdoor air pollution regularly and it’s also a valid health concern. However, indoor air pollution is worth worrying about too. We need to pay attention to it because we spend about 90 percent of our time inside. According to emerging research, including a landmark United Nations study, many commonly used chemicals within our homes act as endocrine disruptors when we’re exposed to them.

What’s An Endocrine Disruptor?

Simply put, your endocrine system controls various functions in your body. It does so by releasing hormones. These chemicals control most of what your body does. Your hormone-producing system regulates how much of each hormone is released through intricate feedback loops. This means that when a hormone drops low, your brain delivers a stimulatory message to your endocrine system to tell it to make more. When a hormone is too high, your brain lowers the stimulatory messages to your endocrine system and so it creates less of that hormone. Certain environmental pollutants have been found to disrupt this process.

The result? Signs and symptoms of hormonal imbalances. When taken to the extreme, these imbalances can put us on the road to diseases such as breast, thyroid and prostate cancer, endometriosis, PCOS, infertility and developmental conditions like ADHD.

Common Environmental Pollutants In Your Home

Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to recognize an environmental pollutant. In fact, some products we identify as “healthy” can actually be harmful.

Take a look at this list of common environmental toxins in your home:

Cleaning products

Keeping a clean home has long been recognized as an important step in maintaining good health. However, many common cleaning products contain carcinogens such as methylene chloride. This chemical is linked to increased breast cancer rates.

One thing to keep in mind with cleaning products is that these compounds linger in the air long after the smell has disappeared. For example, molecules in aerosol sprays get absorbed by dust. Breathing in this dust then leads to respiratory irritation.

In addition, these chemicals react with other compounds in the air, such as ozone. This chemical reaction creates “secondary emissions” that are even more harmful.

Nonstick cookware

The same chemicals that make nonstick cookware so convenient also harm your health. Man-made compounds like polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are found in materials such as Teflon. It prevents food from sticking to the pan. Unfortunately, this toxin also contributes to certain cancers and even high cholesterol.

Air fresheners

A quick spray of air freshener makes our homes smell fresh and clean. However, the effects on our bodies undermine the pretty scents. When it comes to scented products, it’s often difficult to obtain a complete list of all of the chemicals they contain. But, many air fresheners do contain phthalates, which have been linked to hormonal problems, particularly in males. In addition, often the compounds that produce the smell contain benzene and phenolic rings. These are known carcinogens.

Toxins in antibacterial products

Using antibacterial products might seem like a good step towards a healthier home.

But, studies show that many commonly used substances in antibacterial products, such as triclosan, impact our reproductive hormones. As well, overuse has been linked to an increase in allergies in children.

In addition, overuse of antibacterial products is leading to an increase in drug-resistant bacteria. For the most part, these chemicals are unnecessary. They are only mildly effective and it does your immune system good to be exposed to germs in small amounts. It helps to train your immune system, which in turn leaves it stronger.

Water

Government regulations are supposed to keep our drinking water safe from contaminants. However, growing evidence shows that our water supplies contain small amounts of hormones, particularly estrogen. These hormones are the result of birth control and HRT use. Even these small amounts of estrogen disrupt our natural hormonal balance over long periods.

Plastics

Plastic containers and water bottles might make life more convenient, but in the long run, they’re not the best choices. Many containers and cans contain a chemical called BPA, or other chemicals that act like estrogen. In fact, even those items marked as “BPA free” contain toxic compounds which may be just as harmful.

Xenoestrogens are endocrine disruptors which specifically mimic the effects of estrogen. Overexposure leads to weight gain, mood swings, and other symptoms of estrogen excess or estrogen dominance.

Scented bathing and personal care products.

Did you know that the chemicals that give scented products their distinct smells aren’t regulated? And that 95 percent of those scents originate from petroleum byproducts?

Symptoms of Toxins in Your Home

What signs or symptoms might you have that you are exposed to environmental toxins or that your body doesn’t detoxify well? Here are some common signs of chemical toxicity:

  1. Vague symptoms like headache, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, congestion, itching, sneezing, sore throat, chest pain, breathing problems, muscle pain or stiffness, skin rash, diarrhea, bloating, gas, confusion, trouble concentrating, memory problems, and mood changes.
  2. Cancers. Several toxins are known carcinogens. These are chemicals that are linked to cancer. A few that you may commonly encounter in the home include acetaldehyde in alcohol, asbestos, talc, ethanol in alcohol, cigarette smoke and benzene used to make glues, plastics, resins, syntheticfibers, rubber lubricants, dyes, detergents, drugs, varnish and pesticides.
  3. Endometriosis. An environmental chemical known as PCBs has been linked to the development of endometriosis. PCB production and use is now banned, but this chemical lingers in the environment for a long time. Xenoestrogens like BPA from plastic also contribute to this condition by over-stimulating estrogen receptors.
  4. PCOS and diabetes. Exposure to environmental toxins and their subsequent contribution to the development of PCOS is supported by extensive data from diverse scientific studies.

You may need to take action if you are experiencing any of these toxic exposure symptoms or toxic build-up symptoms.

Environmental Toxins List

Some common toxins found in household cleaning products include:

  1. Phthalates. These are often found in cosmetics and anything that has a fragrance including soaps, scented detergents and other cleaners. They are known endocrine disruptors and negatively impact fertility.
  2. PERC or Perchloroethylene. This is common in dry cleaning solutions and carpet and upholstery cleaners. PERC is a neurotoxin and possible endocrine disruptor.
  3. Triclosan. Found in antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers. Triclosan is a probable carcinogen and possible endocrine disruptor.
  4. QUATS or Quaternary Ammonium Compounds. These are in fabric softeners and antibacterial cleaners. These irritate the skin and respiratory tract. Along with triclosan, they may contribute to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
  5. 2-Butoxyethanol. This is found in window and kitchen cleaners and may not be listed on the label. Inhaling it as you are cleaning can irritate your throat. High doses harm your lungs, liver and kidneys.
  6. Ammonia. Found in glass cleaner and metal polishes. It is a powerful irritant of the respiratory tract and chronic exposure is linked to asthma. Mixing this with bleach will create a poisonous gas.
  7. Chlorine. Chlorine is found in bleach, and many household cleaners and mold/mildew removers. It is also a powerful irritant of the respiratory tract. It may cause thyroid problems as it can displace iodine that is essential for normal thyroid function.
  8. Sodium hydroxide. This is in oven cleaners and clogged drain cleaners. Inhaling it is very irritating to the respiratory tract. Contact with skin or eyes causes severe burns.

It’s easy to feel a bit concerned when you read a list like the one above! After all, we want a clean home and to use the most convenient products possible. Fortunately, we have 6 healthy home tips to get rid of chemicals in your home.

How To Make Your Home Healthier

How can we have a clean environment without risking the health of ourselves or our children? Here’s how to reduce your chemical exposure and make your home more environmentally friendly:

1. Don’t try to “mask” unpleasant scents.

Instead of spraying air freshener, try removing the source of the bad odor – wash the dirty clothes (without scented fabric softener, of course), change the kitty litter, take the garbage out etc. If you need extra ammunition against odors, baking soda is a natural air freshener. Open your windows and let some fresh air in. A HEPA air filter also cleans air odors right at the source.

For a lovely, safe, natural scent, try boiling cinnamon sticks or vanilla pods on your stovetop or grow some lavender indoors. Or do some baking.

2. Choose cleaning products carefully.

Be aware of “greenwashing” which is the practice of making products appear more eco-friendly than they actually are. The Environmental Working Group has a searchable database of more than 2,500 products.

As well, vinegar, baking soda, elbow grease and plain hot water can be surprisingly effective cleaners. Doing a bit of research on the best natural cleaners that are both less expensive, and safer really pays off.

3. Avoid aerosols.

Using natural air fresheners like essential oils, or even simmering some lemon slices and a few cloves in a pan, will do the trick just as well and without the nasty side effects.

4. Think about the long-term effects of your purchases.

A plastic container might be the cheapest option to store your leftovers, but pause and take a minute to consider the possible impact on your health and the environment, for that matter. Sometimes investing a bit more money is the best choice in the long run. Plus, a stainless steel water bottle, or a glass or ceramic food container should last you much longer. I have glass casserole dishes that I’ve had for 30 years. No harm to me, no harm to the environment, inert and safe to put in the microwave, oven and dishwasher.

5. Be careful with plastics.

If you have to use a plastic container, don’t heat it in the microwave. The heat causes more xenoestrogens to be released into your food. Storing acidic foods like tomato sauce in plastic may also cause leaching of chemicals into your food.

6. Consider your water source.

If you want to avoid tap water, consider using a filtration system. It’s best to avoid bottled water, which is often no better than tap water and has the added risk of contamination from plastic bottles. Not to mention that plastic water bottles are a nightmare for our planet. However, the water industry is filled with false claims, and prices can be steep. We can review your options in the office to make sure you make the best choices for your needs.

Of course, everyone is different and we all have unique health concerns and personal goals. If you’d like to learn more about environmental toxins, and how to reduce toxins in your body give our office a call. Additionally, if you are suffering from health issues you can’t seem to figure out the cause of, it could be related to toxins.

Our naturopaths will help determine the cause of the issue and the best way to clean your body of toxins if that is what is necessary. Call us at 416-481-0222 or book online here.

Authored by Dr Pamela Frank, Bsc(Hons), ND

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30953899

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20976153

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110824091537.htm

http://www.immuneweb.org/articles/perfume.html

https://www.epa.gov/pfas/basic-information-pfas

https://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2011/09/your-best-air-freshener-isnt-air-freshener

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4243727/

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-12/documents/lenehan-hormones_in_water_using_spe_and_lc-ms.pdf

https://news.un.org/en/story/2013/02/432272-un-report-examines-link-between-hormone-disrupting-chemicals-and-health

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18942551

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27559705

Dementia

Dementia: Facts, Prevention and Treatment

pic of a man with dementia or cognitive decline, poor brain health
Should you worry about cognitive decline?

Dementia Definition

Dementia is a word that describes a state where brain function is sufficiently compromised that it interferes with normal functioning.

Should you be concerned about your cognitive health?

Consider these facts:

  • Dementia affects between five and eight percent of adults over the age of 60. As the average age of the population rises, that could add up to an astounding 150 million people with dementia worldwide by 2050.
  • Dementia is more complex than most people realize. Although Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia at 60-80 percent of cases, many other diseases can play a role.
  • Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) happens when someone experiences enough impairment to be noticeable, but not enough for a dementia diagnosis. People with MCI are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

What are the signs and symptoms of dementia?

  • Memory problems, especially short-term memory, relying more and more on memory aids like notes or electronic reminders
  • Confusion related to time, place, and events
  • Forgetfulness, particularly for things that would have been easily remembered
  • Personality or behaviour changes, this may include irritability, anger, irrational, illogical or even lewd behaviour
  • Social withdrawal
  • Depression
  • Loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities
  • Loss of ability to perform activities of daily living, such as writing, speaking, dressing, bathing, eating, and toileting
  • Poor judgment
  • Difficulty performing tasks that require multiple steps or organization

What causes dementia?

The most frequent cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. This is a condition where amyloid protein deposits in areas of the brain that are responsible for memory and other cognitive functions. The remaining causes include vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid problems and medication side effects.

What are the different forms of dementia?

Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia are the two main forms of dementia. Lewy body disease is a third and the fourth is frontotemporal dementia.

What are the stages of dementia?

Dementia can be categorized into 3 stages or 7 stages. The 3 stage model recognizes mild, moderate and severe impairment. The 7 stage model is broken down into no impairment, mild decline, continued mild decline, moderate decline, moderately severe, severe and very severe decline.

Medicines that cause dementia

A study published in the British Medical Journal in 2018 found that the following types of drugs are associated with an increased risk for dementia:

  • amitriptyline, paroxetine, and bupropion (most commonly taken for depression)
  • oxybutynin and tolterodine (taken for an overactive bladder)
  • diphenhydramine (taken for allergies)

Association doesn’t mean causation, so we cannot conclude that the drugs above cause dementia. It may be that the conditions in the body that create allergies, overactive bladder and depression also cause dementia. A common symptom in all of these conditions is inflammation. Addressing inflammation in the body can help numerous conditions and also improve brain health. I would recommend addressing the root of each of these problems to reduce the need for the medications.

Is dementia reversible?

Dementia can be reversible in certain cases. Dementia may be brought on by thyroid disease, hormone imbalance, nutrient deficiencies, medications, infectious disease, autoimmune disease like lupus or sleep apnea. We can help address the cause of these to reverse or slow the progression of dementia.

Alzheimer’s vs dementia

Alzheimer’s is a specific form of dementia that is caused by the deposition of amyloid protein in areas of the brain that are needed for memory and cognitive function. Alzheimer’s is the cause of 60-80% of all dementia. The other possible causes of dementia include vascular problems like stroke, brain injury and reversible causes mentioned above.

Should you be concerned about your brain health?

Everyone experiences some moments of “brain fog” from time to time. It’s perfectly normal to forget where you put your keys occasionally or struggle to remember a name. As we age, these little moments of forgetfulness become more worrying. In fact, the damage from Alzheimer’s can start up to 10 years before symptoms become troublesome. Stress, fatigue, and nutritional deficiencies can all contribute to cognitive issues, even without Alzheimer’s.

How can dementia be treated or prevented?

The good news is that foggy thinking and poor memory don’t have to be a normal part of aging. Cognitive decline is not inevitable. And the steps to protecting our brain health can also help the rest of our bodies. This provides further evidence that everything is connected when it comes to our optimum health!

So what can you do to maintain peak mental fitness? Check out these tips:

  1. Sleep
  2. Plant-based diet
  3. Exercise
  4. Keep learning
  5. Relax
  6. Hormone balance
  7. Supplementation

Get enough sleep

A great deal of research supports a link between brain health and adequate sleep. Scientists think the relationship may work both ways: not getting enough sleep can lead to cognitive decline, but cognitive decline can also cause sleep problems. Either way, the best approach is to be proactive. For example, avoid substances like caffeine or alcohol before bed. Practice good sleep hygiene by sleeping in a cool, quiet room and pay attention to when the body wants to sleep. Your circadian rhythm is your natural sleep cycle, which is ideally around 10-10:30 pm. Fighting it and staying up later sends an adrenaline rush to your body to keep it awake. Talk to a healthcare provider if sleep issues interfere with daily living. You may also find that following the other tips on this list help with sleep – did I mention that it’s all connected?

Focus on a plant-based diet with plenty of healthy fats

Good nutrition fuels our brain. Processed, low-nutrient foods can lead to inflammation and oxidative stress. The result can be cognitive and mood issues. Up to 95 percent of the serotonin in our bodies is produced in our gut. So what we eat can have a profound impact on our emotions and the way we think. As a result, having adequate “good” bacteria in our gut can reduce the inflammation throughout our bodies, so it’s important to eat with this in mind.

Some important nutrients for brain health include:

  • Vitamin K: Several studies suggest Vitamin K helps prevent cognitive decline. To boost Vitamin K intake, focus on leafy greens, such as spinach or kale or eat natto.
  • Omega 3’s: This fatty acid has been shown to lower levels of beta-amyloids. These are the building blocks of the amyloid plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Look for fatty fish and plant-based sources like flax seeds or avocados.
  • Flavonoids: These phytonutrients are found in many fruits and vegetables. They are particularly found in brightly coloured, flavourful foods like strawberries and blueberries. Flavonoids have been found to play a role in preventing memory decline.

Move to keep your brain active

Exercise is a must when it comes to brain health. Not only can cardio activities like swimming and walking ease stress, but physical activity can also increase the size of the hippocampus. That’s the part of our brain responsible for verbal memory, among other important functions. Exercise also helps your cardiovascular system stay healthy to prevent problems like vascular dementia.

Which exercise is best? The best activity is always the one that you enjoy and that you’re most likely to do. But experts say to strive for 75 minutes of intense activity or 150 minutes of moderate activity every week. As an added bonus, exercise can help you sleep!

Keep learning

You’re never too old to learn something new. In fact, acquiring new knowledge can help keep your brain young. One study found that adults who learned a “complex skill” such as quilting or basic coding had improved memory function after only three months. And knowing a second language (even if you learn it late in life) can help slow memory loss. There’s a great app called Duolingo that makes learning a new language fun. You can even learn Klingon if that’s what you’re into. As we wrote in our biohacking post, learning to play an instrument helps with several brain functions.

Relax

You’ve probably noticed that when you’re stressed, your thought process isn’t as clear as it is when you’re relaxed. Scientists confirm that even short-term stress can affect the hippocampus. It’s important to note that most studies refer to a relationship between perceived stress and memory. We all have negative events in our lives and some of these can’t be avoided. But we can change how we react to them and how we deal with daily stress. It’s possible to reframe the stress of daily life and change how we perceive it. Yoga, meditation, tai chi, and psychotherapy are all effective ways to reduce our feelings of stress. With brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, stressful events can trigger a sharp decline in brain function.

Hormones

Proper brain function is also linked to hormonal balance. Having an imbalance of your cortisol levels, estrogen, melatonin, pregnenolone, testosterone or thyroid can all contribute to memory loss, confusion, and issues concentrating. Our ND’s provide extensive testing and treatment for these imbalances and can help get your brain working at peak function again.

Supplementation

Herbs and other natural supplements can help prevent and treat dementia problems. Research supports the use of Bacopa, Curcumin and Schisandra to help with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Our naturopathic doctors can provide guidance regarding the appropriateness of these herbs and the proper products and dosages.

It’s important to remember that there isn’t necessarily a “magic bullet” solution to protect your brain function. As with all elements of well-being, maximum health is the result of a consistent, holistic approach. By taking conscious steps to protect your brain health, you can minimize memory loss.

Please visit the office if you have questions about your brain health! And if you’ve noticed any symptoms that worry you, it’s important to check them out right away. Call us at 416-481-0222 or book an appointment online at https://forcesofnature.janeapp.com.

Authored by Dr Pamela Frank, BSc, ND

Sources:

https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/related_conditions/mild-cognitive-impairment

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080311182434.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4323377/

https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/alzheimers-disease-and-dementia/stress-increases-risk-mild-cognitive-impairment/article/459497/

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/health-benefits-walnuts

http://www.brainfacts.org/brain-anatomy-and-function/cells-and-circuits/2012/hormones-communication-between-the-brain-and-the-body

Biohacking Secrets

Top Biohacking Tips that Everyone Should Know

pic of smartwatch with the word biohacking
Biohacking: What is it and how can it help you?

If you read about health topics, you’ve probably come across the term “biohacking”. The word sounds intimidating, but the concepts behind biohacking are actually quite simple: The goal is to “hack” your body’s natural processes to optimize your health.

Taken to extremes, biohacking’s “using yourself as a guinea pig” approach can lead to unsupervised self-experimentation. Extreme biohackers pursue activities such as trying to alter their DNA or implanting cybernetic devices into their own bodies. That is not a safe or recommended approach!

How Do You Do Biohacking?

Fortunately, thanks to our “biohacking best practices” research, you don’t have to track every nanosecond of your day or spend a small fortune to reap the rewards. Biohacking your health can be as easy as applying the latest scientific discoveries to your own life. If you follow us on Facebook or follow our blog, we’ll keep you updated and you can adjust as you go. It’s always a good approach to well-being to stay current with the ever-evolving research.

One of the central tenets of biohacking is that the things you put into your body (what you eat, the air you breathe, and supplements you take) shape your body’s output (your energy, productivity and moods). Your mitochondria are at the heart of this process.

What Are Mitochondria?

Mitochondria are the “batteries” that give energy to every cell in your body. These tiny powerhouses are easily influenced by their environment. In other words, they are impacted by everything your body is exposed to. When you improve their environment, you can improve the energy produced by them. The results? Far-reaching improvements in your overall health and energy levels.

What does this process look like in everyday life?

Well, because we’re all different, what works for one person might not work for someone else. As you make changes to your lifestyle, you should carefully monitor your progress as you go. Biohackers draw on the data they create to come up with solutions that make them feel their best. They avoid “one size fits all” formulas.

That means paying close attention to how you feel. The results are definitely worth it. By improving cellular function, biohacking your basic daily activities can have noticeable benefits. And it can be fun. After all, who doesn’t want to use science to feel better every day? Check out some easy ways to biohack your own health. The results might surprise you!

12 Aspects for Biohacking

  1. Genetics
  2. Oxygen
  3. Attention
  4. Memory
  5. Sleep
  6. Environment
  7. Audio
  8. Light
  9. Nutrition
  10. Movement
  11. Stress
  12. Electricity/Magnetism

These 12 are key areas that affect how your body works. They are also areas that you can influence. You may currently be influencing them in a negative way, or in other words doing the wrong thing. What “everyone else is doing” may not be right for your particular body. This is why “biohacking” entails a certain amount of trial and error to see what works best with your particular constitution.

5 Best Biohacking Tips

  1. Make the most of your genetics
  2. Breathing 101
  3. Hacking your attention and memory
  4. Improve your sleep
  5. Enhance your environment
  6. Listen well
  7. Light up your life
  8. Monitor your diet
  9. Focus on natural products
  10. Adapt to stress
  11. Hormones control it all

Making the most of your genetics

Having or not having a particular gene, doesn’t necessarily mean you are doomed to a particular fate. Genes can be turned on and off. They can be up or down-regulated depending on what you do.

For example, let’s say your father and grandfather both had diabetes. Maybe you have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes. Obviously, a gene for diabetes is being passed down through your father’s family. However, you decide to eat a clean diet and exercise daily. Lo and behold, you lose weight and reverse your pre-diabetes. In ways like this, we can biohack our genetics. Gene expression can be turned off and on based on signals from your environment and from other cells. Ensuring a healthy environment externally and internally leads to healthier gene expression.

Breathing 101

Under the influence of stress, we tend to breathe more rapidly and less deeply. Deep breaths supply oxygen to your entire body, stimulates your vagus nerve and calms your nervous system. We know that a stressed out nervous system isn’t good for our overall health. Undoing the effects of stress can be as simple as conscious breathing. At least twice per day, take 5 deep breaths into your belly. Breathe in for the count of 4, hold for the count of 7, release for the count of 8 each time. See how that makes you feel.

Hacking your attention and memory

Chronic deficiencies in zinc, iron, magnesium, iodine and long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are linked to attention problems. Clearly, diet plays a role in maintaining healthy cognitive function. Dark, leafy greens contain zinc, iron and magnesium, shellfish, seaweed and iodized sea salt contain iodine, and fish is the optimal food for PUFAs. Low glycemic index foods also benefit attention.

In addition to foods, lifestyle can also influence attention. Meditation, deep breathing, exercise, self-discipline, and self-regulation all benefit focus, attention and cognitive function.

Hormone balance is the third factor that can influence memory, focus and concentration.

Improve your sleep

By adjusting our night routines, we can improve the quality of our sleep. Biohackers look beyond the standard advice on improving sleep to carefully consider what we surround ourselves with at bedtime. For example, you may have great results by reducing the amount of blue light you’re exposed to at night. Blue light comes from electronic devices. What can be a helpful practice is staying off your devices for 3 hours before bed or switching your devices to “night mode.” Reducing the temperature in your room and minimizing exposure to electromagnetic fields can also lead to world-class sleep.

Keep in mind that our mitochondria want to rest when it’s dark and ramp-up when it’s light. Make it easier for them by creating a sleep environment that’s as dark as possible. If needed, invest in some blackout curtains or a sleep mask. You can also create a sleep-friendly internal environment by avoiding caffeine at least eight hours before you go to sleep.

Enhance your environment

Environmental factors like cold, heat, light, electricity, and air quality influence your body’s functioning. How do you feel when it’s too hot? Too cold? Do you prefer natural light or artificial lighting?

One of the most significant influences on overall well-being can be the quality of the air you breathe. If your home is older or has sustained water damage, mold can grow. Mold spores infiltrate the air you breathe and set off an inflammatory cascade in your body that can have an incredibly detrimental effect on your health. This is a serious enough situation that if there is mold in your home, you should move or do significant repairs to remediate the mold. For detailed information about the extremely harmful impact of mold, read Surviving Mold by Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker.

Listen well

The sounds you hear alter how your body works. When music enters your brain, it releases neurotransmitters called dopamine and oxytocin. These make you feel happy. Listening to music also improves your immune function. The style of music that provides these benefits isn’t that important. It’s more about what kind of music you like and relate to, whether that is jazz, country or hard rock. You may want to alter your music based on what you are doing for optimal function. While you are working or studying, classical may help with dopamine secretion, learning and memory. Pop and rock can be distracting. But, they enhance endurance and physical performance. So be sure to queue them up on your iPod when you are working out. In the evening, while you are relaxing, jazz can soothe your body and help you wind down.

Learning to play music enhances brain abilities like learning and memory.

Light up your life, or not

The timing of light entering your eyes is important and should mimic natural day and night time light patterns. Your body runs on a clock that is regulated by daylight and dark. Functions like sleeping and waking, hormone secretion, cellular function and gene expression are all influenced by the normal rhythm of day and night. Mood and immune function are impaired when this rhythm gets disrupted. As a general rule, when it gets dark outside, keep interior lighting dim and keep your bedroom as dark as possible. Avoid looking at a screen past 8 p.m. And install an app on devices to downgrade blue light and upgrade red and orange tons at sunset. Over the winter, light therapy can help alleviate Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Monitor your diet

Adjusting your nutritional intake is an easy way to start biohacking. It’s a simple concept: Any change to your diet that results in noticeable improvements in how you feel is a biohack. It goes like this: eat this, feel great, eat that, feel lousy, eliminate that, feel great.

You also want to keep in mind that what you eat influences your gut bacteria. In turn, it then affects every aspect of your health. By choosing natural, high-fiber foods, you can reduce inflammation. Too much inflammation affects mitochondria. This leads to mitochondrial malfunction, which can impact your entire body.

Biohackers are more concerned with the nutritional quality of their foods, not the calorie count. Many biohackers follow a gluten-free diet with plenty of healthy fats. Some have good results with intermittent fasting. But ultimately, the key is to pay attention to how your diet makes you look and feel and make adjustments based on that.

Focus on natural products

Even if we’re careful about what we eat, our bodies are still exposed to harmful elements as we go through the day. The water we drink, the substances we clean with, and the beauty and grooming products we use can all contain harmful toxins. These toxins impact our cellular health in ways we may not even realize. Consciously seeking out natural beauty products and non-toxic cleaning solutions helps you reduce the impact of toxic ingredients on your body.

Adapt to stress

Some biohackers use complex biofeedback systems to monitor the effect of stress on their bodies. But, controlling stress can be as simple as paying attention to your breathing. (One biohack technique is “block breathing,” which means exhaling while counting to five, then repeating the count on the inhale. Do this several times and note how you feel after.) Classic stress reduction techniques such as yoga, meditation, and “forest bathing” (walking in the wilderness) can all contribute to lower stress levels.

It may seem like a bit of a paradox, but some biohackers recommend high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for improving a body’s ability to handle stress. That’s because HIIT emphasizes taxing a body to its maximum capacity, then allowing it to recover. As a result, we teach our bodies to be more resilient. Talk to a healthcare provider if you haven’t tried HIIT training before.

Hormones control it all

The hormonal balance in your system plays a huge role in pretty much everything. Having a balanced hormonal state is key to maintaining not just good health, but this balance also allows for all of the above-mentioned tips to actually work for you. When our hormones are out of alignment, it affects so many of our daily activities. Trying to even get through the day can be a challenge, let alone trying to take your health to another level. Achieving optimal hormone balance is doable with guidance from our ND’s.

Electricity/Magnetism

Some people are sensitive to electromagnetic radiation, while others aren’t. If you think that EMR affects you, read this post for more information about what you can do about it.

As you can see, biohacking doesn’t have to be complicated. Ultimately, you’re the best scientist when it comes to your own well-being. Why not make a few simple changes to your lifestyle to see how you feel?

If you’d like to look deeper into your current status of health, find out if your hormones are causing issues in your body or learn how you can take your health to the next level, come into the office and let’s talk. We are experts in looking at the individual as a whole and creating a unique plan to get your body functioning its best.

Call us at 416-481-0222 or book an appointment online at https://forcesofnature.janeapp.com.

Authored by Dr Pamela Frank, BSc, ND

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22496061

http://www.jbc.org/content/280/22/21061.full

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170307155214.htm

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/18/biohackers-strange-world-diy-biology

Intermittent Fasting

woman holding apple for intermittent fasting

Intermittent Fasting: Fad Diet or Science-Based?

While not eating may not sound like a treatment, fasting is one of the oldest therapies in medicine. It has been well-researched for its ability to help heal and prevent disease. When done under the proper guidance of a naturopathic doctor, intermittent fasting can lead to effective weight loss and many long-term health benefits.

Fasting Versus Starving

So, you might be wondering, what’s the difference between intermittent fasting and starvation diets? Well, for starters, starving yourself is dangerous. Our bodies still need fuel to function. Being overly calorie-restricted can cause your metabolism to slow down to conserve fuel. This defeats your weight-loss efforts.

Starvation deprives our body of essential nutrients, so it begins eating itself by burning muscle for fuel. Fasting differs from starvation because it can be practiced for 12, 16, 24, 36 or even 48 hours without the body kicking into starvation mode. Fasting flips the metabolic switch safely and effectively by forcing your body into using one fuel source (ketones) instead of another (glucose).

When we are frequently eating, our bodies are fuelled by glucose, which is a simple sugar. However, through intermittent fasting, that energy source becomes unavailable for long periods of time. As a result, the body begins to break down stored fat into fatty acids that are easily absorbed into the bloodstream.  Fatty acids can be broken down into molecules called ketones. (This may ring a bell if you are familiar with the ketogenic diet.) Ketones can be used to produce energy. After 8 – 12 hours of fasting, our metabolism shifts to replace glucose with ketones as our new source of fuel.

In a world of fad diets and weight loss gimmicks, studies show that intermittent fasting may be better for you than other dieting strategies. This is because ketones put less stress on our cells compared to the by-products of other dieting methods.

Studies also show that intermittent fasting can produce benefits no matter how it’s accomplished!

In one study, participants were allowed to fast for any number of hours a day, and then eat whatever they desired during the remaining hours. In another study, dieters alternated fasting and feasting days. On their non-fasting days, dieters either restricted their diet or ate to their hearts’ content. In both cases, results showed significant weight loss, no matter the approach!

Furthermore, participants in both studies did not lose any significant amount of lean tissue (which includes bone, muscle and organ tissue). This is in contrast to starvation diets which can sometimes cause the loss of both fat and lean muscle tissue, impacting health negatively in the long run. Loss of muscle mass means a slower metabolism. Muscle burns calories even while you are sleeping.

When Should I Fast?

It’s easiest to spend most of your fasting hours asleep, so you’re not thinking about food.

How Should I Fast?

As shown above, studies have shown that the exact structure of a fast isn’t critical. However, here are a few proposed fasting plans:

  1. If you are a beginner faster, you may want to start out with an easier fasting plan, sometimes referred to as a 12:12. What that means is that you may eat within a 12-hour window each day, and then not eat throughout the remaining 12 hours. This is relatively easily done if you eat your last meal around 6 p.m. and then you don’t eat again until breakfast the next morning. It just entails curbing any evening snacking. This plan would produce more modest weight-loss than option #2 below.
  2. If the above option seems too easy, or you are already doing it and want to take it to the next level or you are wanting a greater weight-loss benefit, then you can do a 16:8 fast. That means that you only eat during an 8-hour window each day, the remaining 16 hours of the day are fasting hours. Again, you can set your feeding and fasting hours to whatever you like, but it may be that you’re not that big of a breakfast eater and mornings are hectic, so you may just skip eating until noon. Then noon to 8 p.m. is your feeding window.

What Should I Eat for Intermittent Fasting?

As mentioned, the research seems to suggest that it doesn’t really matter what you eat during your non-fasting hours. However, to prevent falling into bad habits and further enhance weight-loss efforts, we would always recommend eating a healthy, clean, whole foods diet.

Won’t I be Ravenous, Hangry, Tired, Weak, Shaky or Have a Headache?

Surprisingly, people who follow an intermittent fasting regimen, find that they are not starving between meals. In fact, they often report that they feel quite full and satisfied and do not crave food. If you find that you feel weak, shaky, irritable, tired or headachey if you don’t eat, your adrenal glands may need some supporting to allow you to fast without feeling this way. Our ND’s can provide advice about how to keep your adrenal glands healthy.

Did you know that intermittent fasting helps you to live longer too?

It’s true! New research from Harvard shows that intermittent fasting manipulates the mitochondrial networks inside our cells, which may increase lifespan!

Sure, that sounds great! But how does it work?

Simply put, inside our cells we have energy-producing organelles called mitochondria that dynamically change shape in relation to our body’s energy demand. Over time, their ability to produce energy gradually declines, eventually leading to age-related diseases. While fasting is often recommended as a way to promote healthy aging, the connection between metabolism and mitochondria has always been unclear… until now!

The Harvard study shows that low-energy conditions, such as periods of intermittent fasting, can help maintain the flexibility and youthfulness of mitochondrial networks. These youthful networks then communicate with other parts of the body (organelles called peroxisomes) that modulate fat metabolism, which as a result, helps to increase lifespan.

Fasting does not only help you live a longer life.

Fasting improves your overall health too! Further studies suggest that fasting can help:

  • Boost your immune system
  • Enhance your physical performance
  • Expedite weight loss
  • Protect your cognitive function
  • Reduce inflammation
  • Slow the progression of cancerous tumors
  • Protect against cardiovascular disease

Steps for Effective Fasting

As mentioned, there are numerous different ways to fast that are equally effective. Below are a few fasting tips to help you on your way.

  1. Set a fasting schedule and stick to it. If you’re a beginner, meal skipping is an excellent way to introduce yourself to fasting. If you choose to do a 12 or 16 hour fast, arrange your fasting window during sleeping hours to help the time pass by more easily. Fasting for 24 hours once a week or alternating day fasting are other options to try. Be sure to consult your naturopathic doctor to determine what might work best for you.
  2. Stay hydrated. You might be limiting your intake of food, but you certainly shouldn’t limit your consumption of calorie-free beverages. Be sure to drink plenty of water or switch it up with unsweetened herbal teas.
  3. Relax your body and your mind. During 24-48 hour fasting days, don’t participate in strenuous activities or spend your time obsessing over the food you can’t eat. Go easy on yourself by finding things to keep your body and mind occupied in a productive, gentle way. Take a walk or do light exercise that won’t exhaust you, like yoga. Spend a few hours curled up with a great book. Your next meal will come before you know it!
  4. Make your calories count. Between fasting windows, enjoy nutrient-dense foods that provide protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Learn how to increase flavors without sacrificing calories by adding garlic, herbs, spices, and different types of vinegar to your dishes.

If you think you are thinking about fasting but have never tried it before, I invite you to please reach out to us so we can discuss which options might be best for you. Please feel free to book an appointment with us by calling 416-481-0222 or emailing Maria@ForcesofNature.ca and we can help you get back on track with better weight management and a healthier, longer, and happier life!

The Team at Forces of Nature Wellness Clinic

ChiropractorNaturopathic DoctorsAcupuncturistPsychotherapistRegistered DietitianRegistered Massage TherapistOsteopath

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References:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321690.php

Intermittent fasting may be center of increasing lifespan


https://www.osher.ucsf.edu/patient-care/self-care-resources/cancer-and-nutrition/frequently-asked-questions/cancer-and-fasting-calorie-restriction/
https://news.yale.edu/2015/02/16/anti-inflammatory-mechanism-dieting-and-fasting-revealed

Sedentary is the New Smoking

picture of legs moving to prevent sedentary lifestyle

The Hazards of a Sedentary Lifestyle

On average, how many hours per day do you spend being sedentary, just sitting, uninterrupted? One hour? Two hours? Three…or more?

Our ancient ancestors spent much of their time on the move, hunting and gathering to serve their basic needs for food, clothing and shelter and to avoid predators. The balance between movement and being sedentary has shifted dramatically over time, most notably since the technological revolution.

Unlike our ancestors, we no longer need to hunt for food and search for water. Instead, we are now on a quest for time, as hours fly by while we’re hunched over a keyboard. In an average day, most of us are likely sitting more than we are moving and consuming more calories than we are burning. Many of us regularly put in eight-hour workdays seated at a desk – sometimes even ten and twelve hour days. We then go home and unwind on the couch, binge-watching our favourite shows. The hours of not moving begin to add up.

Maybe we make a little time to fit in some exercise two or three times per week; however, with more conveniences at our fingertips, less movement is required in a day and we can do a lot more while moving a lot less. The longer we sit, the more our bodies begin to feel tight, tired and sore and the more cardiovascular fitness we lose. It’s clear that too much sitting isn’t good for us. But did you know that it can also lead to significantly reduced mortality, similar to the effects of smoking?

Sitting and Premature Death

That’s right; too much sitting can kill you! In fact, some are saying that “sitting is the new smoking” because its impact is so significant. According to recent research from the Journal of the American Heart Association, prolonged sitting increases your risk of similar diseases as smoking, such as heart disease, lung cancer, and diabetes. It also increases premature death by about 50 per cent! Even more surprising, too much sitting increases your risk for an early death regardless of your fitness level or other lifestyle habits. So even if you do make it to the gym a few times per week and make healthy dietary choices, a sedentary lifestyle or excessive sitting at work still predisposes you do die younger.

But sitting isn’t just bad for your heart or metabolism; it is also bad for your brain! Researchers at the University of California have discovered a connection between sedentary behaviour and thinning regions in the brain that are critical to new memory formation.

So, what if your job requires you to be at a desk, all day, every day? Are you supposed to quit? Well, of course, that’s not practical. However, there are a few simple things you can do to ensure that you keep your body regularly moving for a longer, healthier life.

Tips to be Less Sedentary & Live Longer

1. Squeeze in Exercise Whenever Possible

Bottom line, the more frequently you work out, the more you reduce your risk of premature death. Adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. While exercising 10 minutes or more at a time is ideal, shorter but frequent micro-bursts of exercise, like taking the stairs, can also be an excellent way to keep active.

2. Opt for Less Convenience

We live in a world of many technological conveniences, we deem them necessary and in some cases to our detriment. Turn back time and reverse your biological clock by opting for “less convenient” choices in your day. Walk over and have a conversation with your colleague instead of sending an email or making a phone call. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Bike to work instead of driving. Changing your daily activities can make a significant impact!

3. Make a Point of Moving Every 30 Minutes

Research shows that people who sit for less than 30 minutes at a time have the lowest risk of early death. Meetings and deadlines don’t always offer the freedom to move, but ideally, you don’t want to be sitting for any longer than three hours at a stretch. Setting a timer on your phone can be a helpful reminder to take regular movement breaks. Do a few stretches next to your desk, do some jumping jacks, knees-up or push-ups. You’ll be more productive for taking that short break and get more circulation and nutrients to your brain.

4. Use a Fitness Tracker

Fitness trackers are an effective way to ensure you’re getting enough activity in your day. As health and fitness wearables grow in popularity, there is an increasing number of options available for every budget and lifestyle. Personally, I love my Fitbit. There are also a wide variety of exercise apps out there to track your progress and monitor your success with motivational milestones to keep you moving. MyFitnessPal is my favourite app to track exercise and calorie intake. I don’t obsess over it, but I do find it helpful to keep me honest with what I’m eating and how much I’m moving.

5. Try a Stand-up Desk

As awareness grows about the health concerns associated with chronic and prolonged sitting, more companies have already begun re-examining ways they can improve employee wellness. In some environments, adjustable desks are offered to provide workers with opportunities to stand instead of sitting if they so choose. There are even treadmill desks so you can walk while you work. If a standing desk is not an option for you, try moving your laptop to a tall counter or table as a means to squeeze in more standing.

6. Move Before, During and After Work

Get up a little earlier to squeeze in some exercise, even if it’s only 15 minutes, before work. Take a walk on your break or at lunch. Go for a swim, bike ride, run or walk in the evening. Spreading exercise throughout your day helps break up the long bouts of sedentary behaviour.

7. Turn off the TV, Get Off your Tablet or PC and Put Down Your Phone

All of these devices are intended to be addictive. Imposing a time limit and sticking to it can help you avoid being sucked into wasting hours on these devices that could be spent moving.

8. Do Some Housework, Yard Work or Gardening

All of these activities involve movement and are far more productive than binge-watching the latest show.

Do you spend excessive amounts of time sitting? Do you experience any health problems that you think could be related to a sedentary lifestyle such as weight gain, back pain, insomnia or high blood pressure? Let’s chat and get to the root of your health issues. Book an appointment with us and together we will find ways to improve your overall health and well-being so that you can live your life to its fullest and longest.

Call or email us at 416-481-0222 or Maria@ForcesofNature.ca or book online here.

To your best health!

The Team at Forces of Nature Wellness Clinic

References

http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/7/6/e007678
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180412141014.htm
http://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2653704/patterns-sedentary-behavior-mortality-u-s-middle-aged-older-adults

Tips for Staying Young

older woman staying young after 50

Staying Young: Healthy Aging Over 50

By Dr. Pamela Frank, BSc(Hons), ND

One of the common myths about aging is that you just have to accept the symptoms of ageing: weight gain, poor sleep, cognitive decline, hot flashes, wrinkles and thinning hair.  Here are my best tips for healthy aging, slowing or reversing these symptoms and staying young at any age:

Weight Gain

What you could eat and get away with before you hit 50 and what you can eat and get away with after 50 is going to be different. Why? Your body’s ability to tolerate foods that increase blood sugar and require insulin decreases when estrogen goes down at menopause. What does that mean? You need to decrease your intake of carbs and sugar after 50 to prevent or stop weight gain. I recommend no more than 60-80 grams of carbs per day, preferably from fruit and vegetables and low glycemic index whole grains. Stay active. Your metabolism slows down as you get older, making it that much more important to stay physically active and keep burning those extra calories. If you find that aching joints are slowing you down, seeing a chiropractor, naturopathic doctor or osteopath may help.

Bone Density

Maintaining regular exercise after 50 is important for maintaining bone density. The single best way to get all the nutrients you need to maintain healthy bones and teeth is to consume bone broth with a handful of spinach every day. Bone broth is literally bones of any type that are cooked for 6-8 hours with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. The liquid is full of all of the minerals for healthy bones as well as the necessary ingredients to make collagen, another major constituent of bones. Our registered dietitian can help you create a meal plan to optimize bone health.

Hot Flashes/Night Sweats

Hot flashes are a signal of inflammation from your body. The best way to reduce those signals is to identify your triggers and make an effort to limit or avoid them. For many women sugar, stress, caffeine, lack of sleep and dairy products are hot flash triggers. Start by avoiding these and see if it helps and try journaling the frequency of hot flashes, time of day, feelings at the time and foods that are associated with your hot flashes to see what your specific triggers are. If stress is a trigger, seeing a psychotherapist to brainstorm stress-busting strategies may help. Acupuncture has been shown in research to help reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes in menopausal women.

Cognitive Decline

Staying young by maintaining your brain health is as important if not more important than maintaining physical health. Hormone balance and low levels of inflammation are important to maintaining cognitive function. Your adrenal glands become increasingly important as you age. They help you maintain a certain level of hormonal health by producing hormones like cortisol, DHEAs and testosterone. The latter two are building blocks to build estrogen so that even post-menopause you can still maintain a healthy post-menopause estrogen level. Reducing intake of inflammatory foods like sugar, dairy and gluten can also help keep your brain healthy as well as your gut.  Increasing your Omega 3 fatty acids, B vitamins and magnesium can keep your brain running smoothly too.

Thinning Hair or Hair Loss

Adrenal gland health helps to maintain a healthy, full head of hair. If you see more hair falling when you are under stress, that may be a sign that your adrenal glands need supporting. These vital organs sit on top of your kidneys and help you deal with stress, help manage your blood sugar and blood pressure, help to balance hormones and reduce inflammation. They need substantial amounts of vitamin C, B5, B6, Magnesium and Zinc to function at their best. Targeting these specific vitamins and minerals often help with hair, but also stress, energy, and hormone balance. Extensive blood work can help identify the specific cause of your hair loss. Our ND’s can assist you with getting the right blood work done and ensuring that your levels are optimal for hair growth.

Skin Health

My two best “staying young” tips for your skin are: avoid sugar and eat bone broth. Sugar increases the need for insulin which promotes inflammation. Inflammation contributes to ageing and redness of your skin. Bone broth contains multiple vitamins, minerals and gelatin, all of which help your body make collagen, the support structure or scaffolding for your skin.  Vitamin C, and the amino acids lysine and proline are the other necessary constituents to make healthy collagen. Collagen also helps to keep your joints healthy.  You can take collagen supplements, but personally, I prefer the all-around nourishment of bone broth.

Poor Sleep

Maintaining strict sleep hygiene becomes ultra-important after 50. Good sleep helps us with staying young physically and mentally.  Any little thing that wasn’t a problem before 50 can disrupt sleep after 50. For optimal sleep, shut down any screen time by 8 p.m., make sure you are getting enough physical activity but do it early in the day, use blackout curtains in your bedroom, avoid sweets and alcohol in the evening, engage in relaxing activities in the evening, aim to be in bed by 10 p.m. and cut yourself off caffeine after noon. If stress is keeping you awake, talking it over with a psychotherapist may help.

No More Resolutions

picture saying no more resolutions

Resolutions are all wrong! Set yourself up for success instead!

Every New Year the “R” word kicks into full force. RESOLUTIONS. We evaluate the past year, how we ‘performed’, what we ‘lacked’, and what we are committed to doing 100% the next year. The trouble is that only about 8% of people actually keep their resolutions. For the rest of us, resolutions serve to remind us of what we didn’t follow through on, what we might have ‘failed at’ again, or what we fell short of achieving. In the end, resolutions create a measuring stick that sets most of us up for failure.

So this year, what if you let go of the “R” word and focus on intentions instead?

There’s a difference between these words, though we tend to use them interchangeably. A ‘resolution’ is similar to a ‘SMART goal’: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely, except that when it comes to making personal resolutions, the most common ones usually miss out on the measurable and realistic parts. Unfortunately, those are the two aspects of resolution-making that make most of us give up or fall short!

These were the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for 2017:

1 Lose Weight / Healthier Eating 21.4%
2 Life / Self Improvements 12.3%
3 Better Financial Decisions 8.5%
4 Quit Smoking 7.1%
5 Do more exciting things 6.3%
6 Spend More Time with Family / Close Friends 6.2%
7 Work out more often 5.5%
8 Learn something new on my own 5.3%
9 Do more good deeds for others 5.2%
10 Find the love of my life 4.3

When you read these themes, I bet you can imagine how they’re translated into ‘resolutions’ like: “lose X lbs by Y date” or “save X amount of money by Y date”. Can you see how much pressure and expectation there is on finding one acceptable and final outcome for these resolutions – and how discouraging it would be to not meet them? Just reading them makes my heart sink with the expectation of it all! Why do this to ourselves – and at the start of a brand new year, too? 

This is where intentions can be more useful, more positive, and more sustainable.

In his book, The Power of Intention, Wayne Dyer defines intention as “a strong purpose or aim, accompanied by a determination to produce the desired result.” Rather than focusing on a problem to be solved, intentions focus energy on a gradual shifting towards change, a continual checking in with one’s Self to remember and activate inner motivation to live with the intention set.

This New Year, try the following:

  1. Write a “Letter of Intention” to yourself. Consider a maximum of FOUR intentions you want to live with and guide your life by over the next year and beyond. The idea is to choose four things that will become themes to live by, that you can cultivate rather than a goal to be ticked off a list.
  2. When you select your four intentions choose one based on the physical body, one on the emotions, one on the mind, and one on the spirit. Allow these four intentions to be broader than a specific end-goal, and more of a theme or quality to which you can tend.
  3. Re-read your letter and sit with it for a while. Come back to it and distil the content into four intention statements beginning with “I want…” Hang onto that full letter though!
  4. Use these four statements as a daily personal mantra when you arise in the morning, and let them be the way you begin each day – excited and content in the intentions you’re planting. You can even write them on cue cards, or print them on a poster to keep where you’ll be able to read them each morning.

Need some ideas for themes? Here are a few to start you off, “I WANT…

A LIMBER, COMFORTABLE BODY (body theme)

A NOURISHED BODY (body theme)

A CALM HEART (emotions)

SOFTNESS (emotions)

EQUANIMITY, MENTAL COMPOSURE (mind)

OPTIMISM (mind)

GRACE IN BE-ING (spirit)

LIGHTNESS (spirit)

Intentions are done in partnership with the Self, with personal creativity, and inner motivation. When you design them, you do so from a place of desiring improvement – not a measurement or pass/fail – which allows you the freedom to grow, shift, and evolve as your intentions take on practical meaning in your life. There is an embedded mindfulness to this kind of intention-setting that is neither demanding nor outside or particularly foreign to how most of us move through our days, making it simple to incorporate into your morning routine.

Over time, with this practice, you’ll nurture your intentions to become a part of your daily actions – and in that way, you’ll see them develop and grow into the way you now live!

Periodically throughout the year, revisit your Letter of Intention and see how much more able you are to notice your success in bringing those themes into your world – and how much prouder you are than when trying to live up to those impossible resolutions of the past. Then, give yourself a pat on the back, because you’re doing great!

We want to be a part of your personal care team. No question or curiosity is too small for us to address together. So don’t be shy to give us a call!  Our door is always open and your road to optimal health is just a phone call away – 416-481-0222.

From all of us at Forces of Nature Wellness Clinic:

We wish you success, happiness, and good health for 2018!

Authored by Dr Pamela Frank, BSc, ND

References:

https://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics

Why Do I Wake Tired?

picture of a woman who will wake tired

Wondering Why You Wake Tired? Here’s how to Lose the Snooze Button

An overwhelming majority of my patients report that they wake tired in the morning when they have to get up. I’m always a little pleasantly surprised when I ask and a patient says yes, they feel refreshed. If you wake tired, there are a number of possible explanations, read on to learn more.

Not Enough Sleep

Studies show that the optimal amount is 7-7.5 hours of restful sleep. With hectic lifestyles, never enough time, trying to have a little down or “me” time, we often sacrifice time spent sleeping.  Also, if you are waking frequently in the night or up to go to the washroom, then you only get broken sleep. Broken sleep is not as refreshing as 7 hours of continuous sleep.

3 Action Steps for Better Sleep:

  1. Set an earlier bedtime, ideally by 10 p.m. and stick to it.  If you want some quiet time, get up early in the morning to be more aligned with your body clock. Aim for 8 hours of sleep per night, that way if you fall short, you’ll still get 7-7.5.
  2. Unplug by 8 p.m.  Looking at a screen tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime and decreases melatonin production that should enhance your sleep.  Melatonin has a multitude of additional benefits: it’s a powerful antioxidant, it repairs the esophagus, it can help fertility and it helps stimulate growth hormone production.
  3. If you find you are waking in the night, have a bite or two of protein containing food before bed.  A couple of bites of egg, fish, a tablespoon of almond butter etc, helps stabilize blood sugar to help you get to sleep & stay asleep better.

Low Iron

Ferritin is a blood test that we do to check for stored iron. Iron deficiencies can lead to exhaustion. An optimal ferritin level is above 60 mcg/L.  Some labs consider anything above 11 mcg/L to be normal.  As a result, your doctor may have told you your iron (ferritin) was normal when it was a fair bit below ideal. Ferritin below 40 mcg/L can definitely lead to problems with low energy and cause you to wake tired, as well as contributing to hair loss and shortness of breath.

2 Action Steps for Low Iron

  1. Ask your doctor to check ferritin and then ask for a copy of the blood work. Check that your ferritin is greater than 60 mcg/L.
  2. If your ferritin is below 60 mcg/L, it’s important to determine the cause of the low iron.  Simply taking iron supplements is not the best approach.  If you experience heavy periods that may explain the low iron, but in that case, it’s best to address the hormone imbalance that is causing the heavy periods.  If you absorb iron poorly or don’t take in enough from your diet, it’s best to address that.

Low Thyroid

Your thyroid regulates energy, body temperature, and metabolism.  Think of it as the gas pedal for your body.  If it’s not supplying enough gas, that means that having a sluggish thyroid can have a huge impact on energy. Blood work for thyroid is usually limited to testing TSH, a hormone that should stimulate the thyroid to work harder if it is underactive. So, a lower TSH means that the thyroid is working well, a higher TSH means the thyroid is sluggish.

The normal range for TSH is 0.35-5.00 mU/L.  If we converted this to whole numbers it is like saying that 35 to 500 is normal. The range is far too broad and once TSH gets above 3.00 there can be indications of an underactive thyroid. Some endocrinologists and fertility specialists will medicate the thyroid if the TSH is above 2.50 as thyroid problems can contribute to infertility. As with ferritin, you may have been told that your thyroid is “normal”. I will treat a patient’s thyroid if the TSH exceeds 3.00 to try to restore normal thyroid function.

2 Action Steps for Low Thyroid

  1. Ask your doctor to check your thyroid and then ask for a copy of the blood work. Check that TSH is between 0.8 and 3.00 mU/L.
  2. Additionally, it would be helpful to have the following measurements relating to thyroid: free T3, free T4, anti-TPO and anti-thyroglobulin.  A TSH measurement alone is not adequate to determine that your thyroid is working perfectly.

Allergies

Allergies can often leave people feeling exhausted a good deal of the time as their immune system is working double time, all the time.  Many people will have low-grade food allergies or food sensitivities that they are either unaware of or they are unable to pinpoint the culprit foods.  Dairy and gluten are common, but you can have a food sensitivity to literally anything you are eating.  Journaling what you eat and rating your energy both later that day & the following day may help you unearth patterns between foods & energy.  If not, food sensitivity blood testing is the most efficient way to determine exactly what your immune system is fighting.  For environmental allergies, we aim to limit exposure if possible, but you can’t necessarily avoid pollen and dust.

4 Action Steps for Allergies

  1. Support your adrenals – the adrenal glands help your body keep inflammation in check, read more on them below.  You can also test your adrenal gland function to determine if it is a problem.
  2. Detoxify the liver – phase I and phase II liver detoxification are the steps that your liver takes to remove toxins, body waste, pollution and even hormones from your body.  There are certain vitamins and minerals that are essential for these processes to work optimally including vitamin B6, B12, 5-MTHF, magnesium, glucarate and indole-3-carbinol.  Supporting efficient liver detox can help remove chemicals that may be adversely affecting your immune system.
  3. Cleanse your gut and restore good bacteria to the digestive tract – Healthy gut flora keeps the immune system regulated and working normally.
  4. Remove existing food sensitivities to settle allergies down – Food sensitivities create inflamed, hypersensitive tissue in your respiratory tract (nose, throat, lungs, bronchi, sinuses).  Calming down this tissue by removing food allergies can help make them less sensitive to environmental pollutants.

Underactive Adrenal Glands

If all else above has been ruled out, the reason you wake tired is likely due to underactive adrenal glands. These are your stress glands.  They sit on top of your kidneys and regulate a wide range of functions.  Their jobs include regulating your blood pressure, blood sugar, nervous system, libido, energy, drive, motivation, stress response, inflammation, hormone balance etc. Signs of low adrenal function include:

  1. waking up tired after at least 7 hours of sleep
  2. hypoglycemia
  3. PMS
  4. anxiety
  5. depression
  6. feeling dizzy or light-headed on standing up quickly
  7. low libido
  8. inflammatory conditions like allergies, asthma, eczema, arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease etc.

3 Action Steps for the Adrenal Glands

  1. Lower your stress.  The adrenal glands were meant to help you deal with short term stress, like running away from danger.  Chronic stress is hard on them and depletes vital vitamins and minerals for them to function normally.  Stress reduction techniques like yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, exercise, and getting good sleep can help.
  2. Support the adrenals with lots of vitamin C, B5, B6, zinc, magnesium and potassium-rich foods like avocadoes, citrus and leafy greens.
  3. Measure.  You can do blood work to determine how well the adrenal glands are working.  Your adrenals produce all of your DHEAs, much of your testosterone and a stress hormone called cortisol.  These can all be measured in your blood.  Lab ranges are not particularly ideal for these tests either.  So it’s best to obtain a copy of your results and consult with a naturopathic doctor to see if blood work is showing a problem with your adrenal glands.

Our naturopathic doctors are the masters at troubleshooting fatigue and why you might wake tired.  Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture with Joy Walraven may help you have more energy. If pain is keeping you up at night, address the cause with massage therapy and chiropractic. If stress is keeping you up, combine massage therapy with psychotherapy.    Book an appointment now. 

Authored by Dr Pamela Frank, BSc(Hons), ND for the team at Forces of Nature Wellness Clinic

6 Steps to Increase Longevity

older woman trying to increase her longevity

Longevity: Add More Years to Your Life and More Life to Your Years

Live life to its fullest every day and don’t sweat the small stuff

Unnecessary stressing over little things increases cortisol.  Cortisol is considered a catabolic hormone, meaning that it tends to break down tissue.  Avoid expediting the breakdown of your body that occurs as a natural part of the ageing process by keeping stress in check.  Check out our stress video here.

Live in moderation with little or no stress

Overindulgence in food, alcohol, stress, sugar and other addictions, television, internet time etc are all associated with damage to your body.

Walk everywhere you can

Walking is great exercise.  Being outdoors is a natural cortisol reducer.  Nature is one of the greatest stress relievers.  Walking to run errands is not only environmentally friendly, it’s good exercise, it reduces air pollution and encourages local consumerism.

Eat as little as possible of freshly prepared food, three times per day

Reduced caloric intake increases longevity. Overindulging in food or anything else isn’t healthy.  Caloric restriction has been shown in many studies to promote longevity.  It keeps excess weight in check, which in turn prevents a host of health problems, maintains healthy blood pressure and blood sugar, prevents diabetes and insulin resistance and maintains healthy digestion.  Studies have shown that consuming 3 meals and 2 snacks per day increases caloric intake, try to only eat 3 meals per day.

Drink six to eight glasses of water every day

Keeping your kidneys flushed helps prevent kidney stones, and carries waste out of your system.  Water helps every cell in your body to function at its peak.  Need help drinking more?  Make it a habit to drink 2 glasses of water first thing every morning, keep a big glass of water on your desk and carry a stainless steel water bottle with you so that water is always accessible.

Share at least one meal per day with another person

Our souls need a daily dose of another’s spirit to truly thrive.  Isolation and loneliness contribute to ageing and even dementia.  So keep communicating with other people to keep your brain sharp.

Looking for more ways to turn back the years and thrive for as long as possible? Our naturopathic doctors can help design an anti-ageing supplement regimen. Call us at 416-481-0222 or book online now.