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Health & Fitness

DAILY HEALTH UPDATE: Thursday, August 29, 2013 Dr. Jeff Allyn, Berkley Chiropractic Clinic

Taking care of "The Ultimate Human Machine" for over 20 years. Check out our blog www.DrJeffAllynBlog.com for more information! We NEVER charge for a consultation! Call Wendy today 248.398.1155.

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” ~ Mark Twain

Mental Attitude: Happiness and Our Genes. Researchers have discovered that a positive attitude affects gene expression. Two types of happiness were studied: Eudaimonic well-being (deep sense of purpose and meaning in life) and Hedonic well-being (unmitigated self-gratification). Individuals who had high levels of Eudaimonic well-being had low levels of inflammatory gene expression and exhibited a strong expression of antiviral and antibody genes. The opposite was true for individuals who had high levels of hedonic well-being. Lead researcher Dr. Steven Cole stated, "What this study tells us is that doing good and feeling good have very different effects on the human genome, even though they generate similar levels of positive emotion. Apparently, the human genome is much more sensitive to different ways of achieving happiness than our conscious minds." The Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, July 2013

Health Alert: Americans Are Living Longer But Are Unhealthier. While Americans are living longer, they are not necessarily living healthier lives due to high rates of preventable chronic disease. Americans' unhealthy behaviors have led to an obesity rate of 28%, a diabetes rate of nearly 10%, and a high blood pressure rate of greater than 30%.United Health Foundation, December 2012

Diet: Eat A Big Breakfast! After a 12-week study that limited each participant to 1,400 calories per day, those whose largest meal of the day was breakfast lost an average of 17.8 lbs (~8 kg). Participants whose largest meal was dinner only lost an average of 7.3 lbs (~3 kg). Obesity, July 2013

Exercise: A Treatment For Alzheimer’s Disease. Exercising for 150 minutes each week may be the most effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease. A new study revealed that exercise can improve cognitive function in people at risk of Alzheimer's by improving the efficiency of brain activity. According to Dr. J. Carson Smith, "We found that after 12 weeks of being on a moderate exercise program, study participants improved their neural efficiency - basically they were using fewer neural resources to perform the same memory task. No study has shown that a drug can do what we showed is possible with exercise." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, June 2013

Chiropractic: Scoliosis Treated with Chiropractic. In a case study involving a 16-year-old female, chiropractic treatment was associated with a reduction in the curvature of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, even after six months of conventional medical treatment failed to stop curve progression. This suggests that some severe and progressive cases of scoliosis can be helped with chiropractic treatment. Journal of Alternative Complementary Medicine, July 2008

Wellness/Prevention: Walking Cuts Diabetic Risk By 40%. A survey of 20,000 people in the United Kingdom revealed that those who walk to work were about 40% less likely to have diabetes than those who drove.  American Journal Of Preventative Medicine, August 2013

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