Merrimack Valley Magazine

Wellness Wednesday – 10/7/20

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WELLNESS AROUND THE WEB

Local Author Offers Stress Relief Seminar

On October 21, Newburyport resident and author Áine Greaney will lead a seminar, “Writing for Stress Relief and Wellness.”

Offered by the North of Boston Cancer Resource (NBCR), in coordination with Beth Israel Lahey Health Anna Jaques Hospital, the seminar is part of the NBCR’s free speaking series in observance of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. NBCR events are open to anyone who is impacted by a cancer diagnosis, including caregivers. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, and to make it easier for participants, the seminar will be offered over the NBCR’s Zoom platform.

Since the late 1980s, over 300 clinical studies have shown that daily or frequent writing can help with issues such as pain, anxiety and sleeplessness. Writing can also enhance our self-awareness and help us to plan and manage our day.

 “This isn’t about being a ‘good’ or a ‘best-selling’ writer,” says Greaney. “It’s about using writing — even for 15 minutes per day — to deal with life’s stressors.”

In her wellness writing seminars, Greaney briefly introduces participants to some of the evidence-based benefits of daily writing for our mental and physical health. She also offers tips on how to start, build and sustain a regular writing practice—including what form of writing suits us best. Participants also get to do and share some fun, in-class writing.

“Some of us love that tactile experience of hand-writing,” says Greaney. “But others prefer to type or use a digital platform, and this seminar will provide a range of tips and resources, including when not to write.”

Áine Greaney is an Irish native and the author of five published books. She has led or co-led writing and employee development workshops for nonprofit organizations, conferences and colleges, including Northern Essex Community College, Emerson College, the Carver School of Medicine (Iowa) and the Youth at Risk Conference at Salem State University, and her essays have also been published in Merrimack Valley Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, the New York Times, Salon, The Wisdom Daily, WBUR Cognoscenti and other publications. Her website is at AineGreaney.com.

 

Army Encourages ‘Aggressive Napping, Meditation and Warm Baths to Combat Fatigue and PTSD

Contradictory to the Army’s tough and punishing gritty reputation, the military branch’s latest exercise guidelines encourage recruits to practice aggressive napping, meditation and warm baths. These latest practices are part of a revamp of the U.S. Army’s physical-fitness training field manual, now called the “FM 7-22 Holistic Health and Fitness.”

Credible research suggests that fatigued troops can experience impaired judgment, delayed reaction times and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to Sleep.org.

Along with sleep, meditation and success visualization exercises are also encouraged. The manual even features a whole chapter on “spiritual readiness,” defined as the “ability to maintain beliefs, principles, and values needed to provide support in times of stress.”

These self-help-esque tips aim to help mitigate injuries suffered during combat, which in turn, increases the military’s effectiveness while reducing the cost to taxpayers in terms of state disability fees.

 

Wellness Wednesday – 9/23/20

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HEALTH IN THE VALLEY

Element Care: Top 12 Ways to Support Healthy Aging for Older Adults

September is Healthy Aging Month, which was designated to focus national attention on the positive aspects of growing older. To support this month, Element Care developed the top 12 ways to support Healthy Aging for Older Adults. This list was created to help older adults age well so they can continue to live independently and to build awareness for National PACE Month and National Healthy Aging Month. Among the top 12 items included on the list are:

Get your immunizations: Get ready for flu season! Make sure to get your annual flu shot and other vaccinations for shingles, pneumonia, etc.

Be Mindful of Your Medications: Remembering to take all your medications can be challenging, especially if like many older adults you take many medications each day. Taking too many or too few of your medications can put you at risk for dizziness, falls or other serious side effects so it is important to use a system such as a 7-day medication planner to ensure that you take all your meds every day.

Consider Using Telehealth Tools to Stay Safe: With the onset of COVID-19, telehealth tools have been growing in popularity. See if your provider offers these convenient, fast and safe ways to see your doctor and other clinical professionals.

To read the complete Top 12 Ways to Support Healthy Aging for Older Adults and see how Element Care helps its participants address them, click here.

 

ESMV-NS Pilot Launch Virtual Matter of Balance Program

One in four older adults falls every year, and falls are a leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries. Falls threaten seniors’ safety and independence and generate enormous economic and personal costs. Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley and North Shore have launched the first-of-its kind virtual version of It’s a Matter of Balance (MOB) program to reduce the risk of falls.

The four-week MOB virtual workshop is conducted over nine sessions and led by trained coaches over Zoom. The program’s goal is to reduce fear of falling by emphasizing practical coping strategies and increase activity levels and confidence among older adults.

The in-person version of the program had been on pause because of COVID until MaineHealth, the home of the MOB program, reached out to Elder Services about creating a virtual version. ETHOS of Boston and Bristol Elder Services joined ESMV-NS to pilot the program via Zoom thanks to funding from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation.

The program is shown to reduce costs in unplanned hospitalization, skilled nursing and home health and a $938 decrease in total annual medical costs.

Virtual MOB workshops are being held this month and through October. For more information about Matter of Balance and this pilot program, visit here.

WELLNESS AROUND THE WEB

Here’s Why Prebiotic Fiber Is the Most Important Kind You Can Eat

Probiotics — the beneficial bacteria that live in our gastrointestinal tract — are important for overall health, but there’s another component to a healthy gut that is equally important.

Prebiotic fiber is an indigestible fiber that can’t be completely broken down in your stomach. Instead, these fibers are fermented by probiotic gut bacteria in your small intestine and colon where they provide food for those same bacteria.

“Prebiotics and probiotics work together to support your health in almost countless ways,” ChowHound.com explains, “When the bacteria ferment prebiotic fibers, it produces important byproducts, including the production of essential nutrients and short-chain fatty acids.” Studies show that low levels of short-chain fatty acids are linked to digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis and more.

According to the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, the highest amounts of prebiotics are found in raw versions of garlic, onions, asparagus, leeks, bananas and seaweed.

Is the Living Mushroom Coffin the Way of the Future?

It can take up to a decade for a human body to decompose from within a conventional coffin, but the “Living Cocoon” can compost a corpse in just two to three years.

The Living Cocoon, developed by Bob Hendrikx, expedites the decomposition process and enriches the soil, DutchNews.nl reports.

Hendrikx expects the Living Cocoon will be able to complete this entire process in two to three years. Not only are the waste products from the human body converted into nutrients, but the quality of the surrounding soil is also improved, giving it new life and an opportunity to thrive.

The production process takes several weeks and the mycelium is grown in the shape of a coffin and then dried naturally, pausing its growth. Once it has been exposed to ground water for some time, the mycelium starts to live again, starting the composting process.

 

Wellness Wednesday – 9/9/20

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WELLNESS AROUND THE WEB

Could Honeybee Venom Aid in the Fight Against Breast Cancer? 

Australian scientists say the venom from honeybees has been found to destroy aggressive breast cancer cells in a lab setting, BBC.com reports.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women around the world, and scientist are cautiously excited about this latest discovery. The venom of the honeybee — and a compound in it called melittin — were used against two cancer types which are hard to treat: triple-negative and HER2-enriched

The study by the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Western Australia was published in Nature Precision Oncology, a peer-reviewed journal.

It tested venom from over 300 honeybees and bumblebees. One concentration of the venom was found to kill cancer cells within an hour, with minimal harm to the other cells. But the toxicity increased for other dosage levels.

This discovery provides another exciting example of where compounds in nature can be used to treat human diseases, but researchers warn more work is needed to see if the venom could actually work on scale as a cancer-fighting drug.

 

Concoct Your Own Hot Sauce

One of the best ways you can pass your time during the covid crisis is in the kitchen — trying new foods, diets and recipes expands your knowledge of meal prep and nutrition and the whole family can help concoct new culinary discoveries. In a recent blog post, CraftHotSauce.com shared their tips on creating your original hot sauce blend. They say that every hot sauce consists of sweet, savory and spicy elements, and the best way to start a batch is by creating a balance between these components.

For heat, there are hundreds of different types of chile peppers to try. The endless number of combinations make experimenting an exciting and unpredictable experience. If you’re going for a specific level of heat in you sauce, be sure to take a look at the Scoville ranking to see how hot peppers are, and google some of the traits of your pepper.

For sweetness, creativity is key. There are many fruits, veggies and different types of foods you can pair with your peppers to develop your sauce. Also, don’t be afraid to add some sweeteners to your mix. I personally like using agave or sugar, but you could also use honey, molasses or even maple syrup!

In addition to a nice heat and sweet flavor, it’s nice to have some other savory tasting ingredients to give it a more balanced flavor. CraftHotSauce.com notes that foundational ingredients like onions, garlic and salt are all great for an added savoriness.

Click here for the full blog from CraftHotSauce.com.

 

Wellness Wednesday – 9/2/20

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WELLNESS AROUND THE WEB

Do You Know How To Breathe?

Like most people, you may think you know how to breathe, but a recent article by The Guardian suggests otherwise.

In the last few years, there has been a surge of interest in “breathwork.” The field offers a wide variety of exercises that promise better breathing, which, according to practitioners, can transform one’s physical and mental health by improving immune function, sleep, digestion and respiratory conditions, and reducing blood pressure and anxiety.

However, there is little quality research to back up many of these claims, although it has become widely accepted that diaphragmatic breathing (engaging the large muscle between the chest and abdomen to take bigger, deeper lungfuls of air) can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.

Want to know what healthy breathing looks like? When a toddler takes in a breathe, their stomach swells. Experts say that most people tend to be “upper-chest breathers;” when they breathe in, their intercostal muscles (between the ribs) and their shoulder muscles are overused. Their chests puff out and hardly anyone is breathing really well into their belly, which should be the foundation of the healthy breath. Others breathe through their mouth rather than nose.

Stress, sedentary lifestyles, air pollution and even tight-fitting clothes promote poor breathing. Luckily, engaging in healthy breathing techniques isn’t difficult at all. For an easy exercise, practice breathing in through the nose for four seconds, hold the breath for two, and then breathe out for six, and then repeat that for a few rounds. You can also practice on the move, ideal on your daily walk or commute, if you are back at work. Breathe in for five steps while you’re walking, and out for five steps, always in and out through the nose.

 

Long Naps May Be Bad For Health

Recently, scientists showed that drifting off for more than one hour could be risky.

“Daytime napping is common all over the world and is generally considered a healthy habit,” said study author Dr. Zhe Pan of Guangzhou Medical University, China. “A common view is that napping improves performance and counteracts the negative consequences of ‘sleep debt’. Our study challenges these widely held opinions.”

This study summarized the available evidence to assess the relationship between napping and the risks of all-cause death and cardiovascular disease.

The analysis found that long naps (more than 60 mins) were associated with a 30% greater risk of all-cause death and 34% higher likelihood of cardiovascular disease compared to no napping.

Overall, naps of any length were linked with a 19% elevated risk of death. The connection was more pronounced in women, who had a 22% greater likelihood of death with napping compared to no napping, and older participants, whose risk rose by 17% with naps.

Short naps (less than 60 minutes) were not risky for developing cardiovascular disease. Dr. Pan said: “The results suggest that shorter naps (especially those less than 30 to 45 minutes) might improve heart health in people who sleep insufficiently at night.”

The reasons why napping affects the body are still uncertain, but some studies have suggested that long snoozes are linked with higher levels of inflammation, which is risky for heart health and longevity. Other research has connected napping with high blood pressure, diabetes and poor overall physical health.

If you want to take a nap, keep it under an hour. For those of us not in the habit of a daytime slumber, there is no convincing evidence to start.

 

Wellness Wednesday – 8/12/20

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WELLNESS AROUND THE WEB

Quarantine, Food and You

In last week’s Wellness Wednesday, we examined how quarantine can affect one’s mood and overall personality. Today, we continue the topic of lifestyle changes while quarantined in relation to food. Some of these food-related behavior changes have the potential to become new habits with long-term benefits.

Without anywhere to hurry off to, families have much more time for preparing and eating meals together. According to some research, eating as a family helps kids have better self-esteem, more success in school and lower risk of depression and substance use disorders. And make sure the kids help out with the cooking: A long-term study found that adolescents who learned to cook by age 18 were eating more vegetables, less fast food and more family meals a decade later.

Dedicating a day of the week to plant-based meals has been shown to bring plenty of benefits as well. Nutritionists have spent decades encouraging people to eat plant-based meals. Alternatives to animal protein benefit the health of individuals and our planet. This doesn’t mean you need to become vegetarian or vegan, but you can start thinking about meat differently.

These are just a few tips for eating while quarantined, but these small changes can have tremendous, life-long effects.

 

A.I. May Be the Future of Nutritional Research

Just as COVID-19 altered our schedules and work habits, the pandemic has also accelerated the need for more proactive health measures for chronic health problems tied to diet. Such problems are shown to be risk factors for COVID-19, and people with poor metabolic health accounted for half of COVID-19 hospitalizations in some regions around the world.

Thankfully, new tools have been developed to offer comprehensive understanding of nutrition. Technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are helping researchers learn more about the biological connections between plants and humans.

Recently, in collaboration with leading biomedical researchers, Brightseed discovered a powerful phytonutrient with the potential to improve metabolic health. This phytonutrient helps restore proper function of a central metabolic regulator, including maintaining healthy lipid and sugar levels in the bloodstream and key organs such as the liver, whose function is impaired by a poor diet.

The impact of this discovery could be wide reaching and have profound implications for more than two billion people worldwide at elevated risk of chronic metabolic diseases. The discovery of this phytonutrient is a glimpse into the positive changes that deeper nutritional understanding can bring.

 

Experts Recommend Drinking Green Tea Constantly

A 2015 study by the National Cancer Center Japan (NCCJ) suggested that the more green tea people consumed, the more their mortality rate dropped. The study shed new light on green tea, which accounts for the majority of Japanese tea.

What is the reason green tea is so good for your health? In a word – catechin. Because of its adsorptive nature, catechin adheres to fat and makes it difficult to mix with water. As a result, it’s hard for fat to be absorbed into body. If it is not absorbed into system, fat will be released with stool.

On top of adhering to fat, catechin can also act as a filter for germs in the body. As we take oxygen in, active oxygen is created in our body, which can make our body ‘rusty.’ The antioxidant effect of catechin restrains such active oxygen, leading to an anti-aging effect.

As a result of its healthy properties, many experts recommend drinking green tea constantly. However, there is a limit to how much catechin a body can take in at one time, so you don’t need to drink large amounts, but by drinking it constantly you will continually have catechin in your system.

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