Yoga and Stretching
People who suffer from chronic back pain may find some relief in yoga or intensive stretching, but neither form of exercise appears to be more effective than the other, a new study suggests.
Roughly 80% of adults experience low back pain at some point in their lives, and as many as 8% will experience chronic symptoms that last three months or longer. Primary care physicians regularly prescribe painkillers and muscle relaxants to these patients with varying degrees of success, or refer patients to physical therapists, chiropractors, or other specialists. Many doctors also recommend exercise and stretching, but few studies have explored whether certain physical activities are especially effective for back-pain patients.
The new study, which appears this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, is a follow-up to a small 2005 trial that found that yoga was slightly better for back pain than a comprehensive exercise program that included strength training, aerobics, and stretching. The researchers suspected this might have been due to the meditation-like “mental component” of yoga, and they expected to get a similar result this time around.
The study included 228 mentally healthy adults with moderate chronic back pain, most of whom were fairly active in spite of their pain. The researchers randomly assigned them to one of three groups: One group took weekly 75-minute yoga classes, another took weekly stretching and strength classes, and a control group received a book on coping with back pain. The yoga and stretching groups also received instructional videos and were encouraged to practice at home for 20 minutes a day between classes.
Three months later, the stretching and yoga participants were far more likely than the people in the control group to report improvement in their back pain. Twice as many participants in these two groups (about 40%, versus 20% in the control group) said they’d decreased their medication use, a trend that persisted three months after the yoga and stretching classes ended.
Yoga was no more effective than stretching, however. This finding, which surprised the researchers, suggests that the back-pain benefits of yoga are mostly due to its physical (rather than mental or spiritual) aspects, the study notes. And in fact, the stretching class was not unlike a yoga class, says Karen Sherman, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and a senior investigator at the Group Health Research Institute, the research arm of a Seattle-based nonprofit health plan.
5 Nervous Habits
We all have nervous ticks or habits that we don’t even notice that we do to help us relieve stress and nervousness.
TOP 5 NERVOUS HABITS
- Hair twirling and pulling. Someone who twirls their hair can be a flirtatious gesture in social situations. However, there are some who twist their locks on a regular basis. This is an activity that can soothe someone who is stressed or nervous. Hair pulling or twisting on a regular basis can cause patchy areas of baldness and over time, the hair follicles can become damaged.
- Smoking. We all know that smoking is a nasty and unhealthy habit, but for some it gives them the illusion of calming. Over time a smoker can only find stress relief through a cigarette. Then there is the mass amount of research that associates smoking with lung cancer and respiratory illness.
- Teeth grinding and clenching. Teeth grinding, also known as Bruxism, is typically the uncontrollable movement of teeth back to front and side to side. When people grind their teeth in their sleep, it causes them to switch from deeper to lighter levels of sleep. It can also cause high amounts of damage to your teeth.
- Nail biting. For most people, having well manicured nails is a sense of pride. For some they can leave their nails alone for fear of imperfections. This habit of “improving” their nails usually begins at childhood. This can cause the skin to become red and raw or even infected.
- Cracking knuckles. When you hear someone “cracking” their knuckles, it’s actually the sound of gases releasing. There actually aren’t any side effects to knuckle cracking, even though many believe it will cause arthritis. If anything it irritates family and friends when knuckle-crackers do it as many 200 times a day.
Diabetes Myths
There are many myths about diabetes that make it hard for people to grip the reality that it is a serious and a potentially deadly disease. These myths can create a picture of diabetes that is not accurate and full of stereotypes.
Here are the facts:
Myth: Diabetes is not that serious of a disease.
Fact: Diabetes causes more deaths a year than breast cancer and AIDS combined. Two out of three people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke.
Myth: If you are overweight or obese, you will eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
Fact: Being overweight is a risk factor for developing this disease, but other risk factors such as family history, ethnicity and age also play a role. Unfortunately, too many people disregard the other risk factors for diabetes and think that weight is the only risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Most overweight people never develop type 2 diabetes, and many people with type 2 diabetes are at a normal weight or only moderately overweight.
Myth: Eating too much sugar causes diabetes.
Fact: No, it does not. Type 1 diabetes is caused by genetics and unknown factors that trigger the onset of the disease; type 2 diabetes is caused by genetics and lifestyle factors. Being overweight does increase your risk for developing type 2 diabetes, and a diet high in calories, whether from sugar or from fat, can contribute to weight gain. If you have a history of diabetes in your family, eating a healthy meal plan and regular exercise are recommended to manage your weight.
Myth: People with diabetes should eat special diabetic foods.
Fact: A healthy meal plan for people with diabetes is generally the same as a healthy diet for anyone – low in fat (especially saturated and trans fat), moderate in salt and sugar, with meals based on whole grain foods, vegetables and fruit. Diabetic and “dietetic” foods generally offer no special benefit. Most of them still raise blood glucose levels, are usually more expensive, and can also have a laxative effect if they contain sugar alcohols.
Myth: If you have diabetes, you should only eat small amounts of starchy foods, such as bread, potatoes and pasta.
Fact: Starchy foods are part of a healthy meal plan. What is important is the portion size. Whole grain breads, cereals, pasta, rice and starchy vegetables like potatoes, yams, peas and corn can be included in your meals and snacks. The key is portions. For most people with diabetes, having 3-4 servings of carbohydrate-containing foods is about right. Whole grain starchy foods are also a good source of fiber, which helps keep your gut healthy.
Myth: People with diabetes can’t eat sweets or chocolate.
Fact: If eaten as part of a healthy meal plan, or combined with exercise, sweets and desserts can be eaten by people with diabetes. They are no more “off limits” to people with diabetes than they are to people without diabetes.
Myth: You can catch diabetes from someone else.
Fact: No. Although we don’t know exactly why some people develop diabetes, we know diabetes is not contagious. It can’t be caught like a cold or flu. There seems to be some genetic link in diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle factors also play a part.
Myth: People with diabetes are more likely to get colds and other illnesses.
Fact: You are no more likely to get a cold or another illness if you have diabetes. However, people with diabetes are advised to get flu shots. This is because any illness can make diabetes more difficult to control, and people with diabetes who do get the flu are more likely than others to go on to develop serious complications.
Myth: If you have type 2 diabetes and your doctor says you need to start using insulin, it means you’re failing to take care of your diabetes properly.
Fact: For most people, type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease. When first diagnosed, many people with type 2 diabetes can keep their blood glucose at a healthy level with oral medications. But over time, the body gradually produces less and less of its own insulin, and eventually oral medications may not be enough to keep blood glucose levels normal. Using insulin to get blood glucose levels to a healthy level is a good thing, not a bad one.
Myth: Fruit is a healthy food. Therefore, it is ok to eat as much of it as you wish.
Fact: Fruit is a healthy food. It contains fiber and lots of vitamins and minerals. Because fruits contain carbohydrates, they need to be included in your meal plan.
Video Game Addictions
If you were to ask any preteen or teenage how they spend their extra time, and about ninety percent of the time you will get an earful about video games. Why are they so enjoyable and addicting? According to some studies it would appear that the excitement of video games causes the brain to release a chemical that is, in essence, addictive. For any parent who has experienced the enthusiasm, this news is no surprise.
Dr. Charles Ungerleider explains that “they’re very compelling with increasing complexity, so a child becomes more facile, yet wants to know more and apply new skills.” While wanting to improve their game isn’t a problem in itself, it becomes one if video games are “taking a youngster away too much from other activities,” says Ungerleider. “Then the parent has to intervene and limit the amount of time the youngster spends with the video game.”
If a video game isn’t too violent, it can actually offer some real opportunities for puzzle solving, strategic and critical thinking. But video and computer games must be played in moderation. Parents should provide a selection of activities, and not just the ones that are most action packed or addictive. Choosing some that teach problem solving or good story lines are important to creating a healthy experience with video games.
As for the addiction, parents can prevent their children from becoming addicted by establishing a limit on TV viewing or video games. Also try using video game material early in a child’s life so that by the time a youngster gets to be an adolescent and there’s very little surveillance or control, it’s less likely to occur.
Finally, Ungerleider remind parents that “if a youngster becomes addicted to video games it can be a problem and the parent does need to intervene and provide attractive alternatives.”