The Opioid Crisis - Natural Pain Relief with Chiropractic

Story at-a-glance - • More than one-third of American adults were prescribed an opioid drug in 2015, and opioid overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. • Back pain, wisdom tooth extraction and pain during pregnancy are the most common reasons for receiving an opioid prescription. • Drivers killed in car crashes while under the influence of opioid drugs rose seven-fold between 1995 and 2015. Opioids kill patients more frequently than any other medication used for nonfatal conditions, yet disturbing statistics reveal more than one-third of American adults were prescribed these dangerous drugs in 2015. Even more shocking, opioid overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. While back pain is one of the most common reasons for receiving a prescription for a narcotic pain reliever, a surprising number of people — especially teens and young adults — receive these potent drugs from their dentist. Women are also increasingly being prescribed opioids during pregnancy and after delivery, creating addicts in the womb and destroying families by creating drug-dependent mothers and infants. 1 in 3 American Adults Prescribed Opioids Every Year! According to Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Maryland, 38 percent of adults (about 92 million people) in the U.S. were prescribed an opioid drug in 2015. Women, people over the age of 49 and those without college degrees were most likely to receive a prescription, and the unemployed, uninsured and adults with an annual family income below $50,000 had the highest prevalence of opioid misuse and addiction. An estimated 5 percent of adults (11.5 million people) misused the drugs, and nearly 1 percent (some 1.9 million people) reported addiction. Interestingly, while women are prescribed opioids more frequently than men, men have a higher rate of misuse — 13 percent compared to 9 percent respectively. Of those misusing the drug: • 41 percent reported getting leftover medication from family or friends • 64 percent said their use of the drug was motivated by need for physical pain relief • 11 percent said they took the pills to relax or get high According to Compton: "Overall, the medical profession is doing a poor job of appropriately prescribing opioid painkillers. Even though the rates have leveled off, we have a long way to go in improving medical care so these are not as overprescribed as they are currently … [T]here are a lot of leftover medications. In many cases, physicians could write smaller prescriptions, or avoid them completely for those who benefit from ibuprofen or acetaminophen." Nearly 70,000 Physicians Were PAID to Prescribe Opioids. A recent paper hints at one of the reasons why opioids are still so vastly overprescribed. Between 2013 and 2015 alone, 68,177 physicians received in excess of $46 million in payments from drug companies marketing narcotic pain relievers. In all, that amounts to 1 out of every 12 doctors in the U.S. As noted by pediatrician Scott Hadland, who led the study, "The next step is to understand these links between payments and prescribing practices and overdose deaths." Conventional Medical Pain Management Needs Radical Overhaul. Dr. Karen Lasser, associate professor of medicine and public health at the Boston University School of Medicine's Clinical Addiction Research & Education (CARE) Unit, told CBS News pain management needs significant revision: "Doctors need to adopt a stepped-care approach to pain management. With this approach, doctors would first try to manage pain using nondrug means — or prescribe milder pain medications. Overdose Deaths Continue to Climb. While you certainly hear more about the dangers of opioids these days, growing awareness has yet to impact death statistics. According to the latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics, more Americans died from opioid overdoses in the first nine months of 2016 than in the first nine months of 2015. Other recent research drives home the severity of the problem, showing opioid deaths have been significantly underestimated. According to this report, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, mortality statistics involving drug overdoses from 2008 through 2014 underestimated opioid-related deaths by 24 percent. Overdose deaths involving heroin was underestimated by 22 percent. Spike in Fatal Car Crashes Linked to Opioid Use. Overdose deaths are not the only problem associated with skyrocketing opioid use. It's also causing people to die on our roadways. Statistics reveal driving under the influence of drugs now causes more fatal car crashes than drunken driving. According to a report compiled by the Governors Highway Safety Association and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, prescription and/or illegal drugs were involved in 43 percent of fatal car crashes in 2015, while 37 percent involved illegal amounts of alcohol. Another recent report found drivers killed in car crashes while under the influence of opioids specifically rose seven-fold between 1995 and 2015. According to lead author Stanford Chihuri, staff associate in the department of anesthesiology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, "The significant increase in proportion of drivers who test positive for prescription pain medications is an urgent public health concern." Co-author Dr. Guohua Li, professor of epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, added, "The opioid epidemic has been defined primarily by the counts of overdose fatalities. Our study suggests that increases in opioid consumption may carry adverse health consequences far beyond overdose morbidity and mortality." President Trump Declares State of Emergency. In related news, a government opioid commission recently called for President Trump to declare a state of emergency to force Congress to fund strategies to curtail and treat opioid addiction. The commission is chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. In their White House report, the commission states: "According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) … 142 Americans die every day from a drug overdose … The opioid epidemic we are facing is unparalleled. The average American would likely be shocked to know that drug overdoses now kill more people than gun homicides and car crashes combined. In fact, between 1999 and 2015, more than 560,000 people in this country died due to drug overdoses — this is a death toll larger than the entire population of Atlanta … In 2015, nearly two-thirds of drug overdoses were linked to opioids like Percocet, OxyContin, heroin, and fentanyl … [H]ere is the grim reality: Americans consume more opioids than any other country in the world. In fact, in 2015, the amount of opioids prescribed in the U.S. was enough for every American to be medicated around the clock for three weeks. Since 1999, the number of opioid overdoses in America have quadrupled … Not coincidentally, in that same period, the amount of prescription opioids … quadrupled as well. This massive increase in prescribing has occurred despite the fact that there has not been an overall change in the amount of pain Americans have reported in that time period. We have an enormous problem that is often not beginning on street corners; it is starting in doctor's offices and hospitals in every state in our nation." President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency on August 10, saying, "The opioid crisis is an emergency … It is a serious problem, the likes of which we have never had … We're going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis." Pain and Hopelessness Fuel Opioid Crisis. According to recent research, half of all Americans are living with chronic illness, and many addiction specialists believe pain and hopelessness are driving the opioid crisis in the U.S. As noted in The Washington Post: "Fatal overdoses from prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999 and heroin overdoses have gone up about six-fold since 2001. But other drugs also play a role. A Post analysis of federal health data found that white women are five times as likely as white men, for example, to be prescribed drugs for anxiety in tandem with painkillers, a potentially deadly combination. Meanwhile, the suicide rate among middle-aged white women has risen in parallel with prescriptions for often-ineffective psychiatric drugs. Both have roughly doubled since 1999 … According to federal health officials, nearly 1 in 4 white women ages 50 to 64 are [sic] being treated with antidepressants. Binge drinking is also on the rise, as women close the gap with heavier-drinking white males." Limiting the availability of opioids and making overdose-reversal drugs (naloxone) and treatment for drug addiction more readily available are certainly part of the answer. But it's not enough. We have to take a much deeper look at the root of the problem. What is causing all this physical and emotional pain in the first place? Clearly, the U.S. health care system is blatantly ineffective at treating chronic health problems. Whether ill health is promoting hopelessness or the other way around is difficult to ascertain, but the two appear to be closely intertwined and need to be addressed together. Somehow or another, we need to refocus our efforts to create lives worth living, and improve access to and information about basic disease prevention, such as healthy foods and foundational health-promoting lifestyle strategies. **Nondrug Solutions for Pain Relief are More Effective. It's important to realize that in addition to the risk of addiction, opioids can also severely impair your health by suppressing your immune function. So please remember, opiates are highly immunosuppressive drugs that raise your risk of any number of diseases, as your immune system is your frontline defense against all disease. It's particularly important to avoid opioids when trying to address long-term chronic pain, as your body will create a tolerance to the drug. Over time, you may require greater doses at more frequent intervals to achieve the same pain relief. This is a recipe for disaster and could have lethal consequences. Following is information about nondrug remedies, dietary changes and bodywork interventions that can help you manage your pain. Chiropractic Care Reduces Pain Naturally. Many studies have confirmed that chiropractic management is much safer and less expensive than allopathic medical treatments, especially when used for pain such as low back pain. Qualified chiropractic physicians are reliable, as they have received extensive training in the management of musculoskeletal disorders during their course of graduate health care training, which lasts between four to six years. These health experts have comprehensive training in musculoskeletal management. Other non-drug treatments that have been shown to be effective in reducing pain are: Acupuncture, Massage and Physical Therapy. Many nutritional supplements can help also to reduce inflammation, such as: omega-3 fish oil, vitamin D, ginger, curcumin, boswellia, bromelain. **The doctors and staff at Beck - Thibodeau Chiropractic have dedicated their lives to helping our community become pain-free. If you ever have any questions about Chiropractic or nutritional supplements, please ask them. Source: mercola.com, 8/19/17.

Vaccine Studies: 400 Scientific Papers Reviewed

Vaccines: Are they safe? Are they effective? To help answer those questions is Neil Z. Miller, a medical research journalist and director of the Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute. Miller has investigated vaccines for three decades and written several books on the subject, most recently, "Miller's Review of Critical Vaccine Studies: 400 Important Scientific Papers Summarized for Parents and Researchers." "Miller's Review," published in 2016, is a magnificent piece of work. In it, he reviews the concern about vaccine safety and efficacy raised by 400 peer-reviewed published studies. "I got started when my own children were born … over 30 years ago … When my wife was pregnant, I felt I had to do due diligence about vaccines. I have to be honest, though. Before I even started to research vaccines, my wife and I pretty much knew intuitively that we were not going to inject our children with vaccines. "The thing is that when I do things, I do them thoroughly … I was doing my research at medical libraries. I was gathering everything and I started to collate it and coordinate it … People started to find out about the information I had organized. They were asking me about vaccines even way back then. I organized it into a booklet. I started to share that with people. Everything snowballed from that first booklet." Don't Believe the 'There's No Evidence' Argument "Miller's Review" was created in response to the common refrain that "there are no studies showing vaccines are unsafe or ineffective." "Parents come to me all the time, saying, 'My doctor told me that vaccines are safe and there are no studies that prove [otherwise].' I've been doing the research for 30 years. I know of literally thousands of studies that document [concerns]. My books all document [those] studies." "Miller's Review" is unique in that it summarizes 400 studies in bullet points with direct quotes from the study — with one study per page — plus citations so that you can find and read the study in full should you decide to do so. All of the studies are published in peer-reviewed journals and indexed by the National Library of Medicine. "These are valid studies by valid researchers in many journals that people have heard about — The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, all the mainstream journals (and some of the smaller journals) that show there are problems with vaccines: There are safety problems, there are efficacy problems. They're all in one place so that people, like doctors, can get this information all in one convenient place. When medical doctors who are on the fence, or who are pro-vaccine, get this book and read it, I hear back from parents that their doctor is no longer pressuring them to get the vaccines or to go to some sort of alternative vaccine schedule if that's the choice these parents make. I am all about having uncensored, unfettered access to all of the available information out there about vaccines. Not just what your medical doctor wants you to know or what the pharmaceutical companies want you to know or what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is telling doctors to share with their patients. I want [parents] to be free to make a decision whether or not they want to vaccinate their children. It's a human rights issue. It's really about the mandatory aspect of vaccines. I think all vaccines are problematic, not just based on my own feelings, but based on the evidence." Uninformed Decision-Making Is Part of the Problem Ultimately, every parent will make a decision about whether or not to vaccinate. The problem is, most of the time, it's an uninformed decision. There's been a deliberate misinformation campaign aimed at making you believe vaccines are far more effective than they actually are. For example, disease incidence data is used to suggest vaccines have dramatically reduced the incidence of a given disease, when in fact the disease rate had already declined by 90 percent, or more in some cases, before a vaccine was ever available. Measles has been problematic in developing nations, mostly because of malnutrition, vitamin deficiency, a lack of clean water, sanitation and quick access to medical care. As these measures are addressed, the mortality from measles declines on its own. "By the time the measles vaccine was introduced in the United States in 1963, by the late 1950s, the mortality rate from measles had drastically dropped. In my book, I've got many different types of graphs and illustrations that show that these diseases were declining significantly on their own, well before vaccines were introduced. For example, scarlet fever. Where did scarlet fever go? Why don't we see cases of scarlet fever when we didn't have mass vaccinations with a scarlet fever vaccine? That's an important point to be made." Many Childhood Diseases Are Protective Against Cancer Another significant point is there are dozens of studies demonstrating that contracting certain childhood diseases actually protects you against various types of cancer later in life — everything from melanoma to leukemia. It's important to realize that when you have a naturally-acquired infection, you're really exercising your immune system quite profoundly, developing authentic, lifelong immunity in the process, which is radically different from the type of artificial and temporary immunity you get from a vaccine. There's even evidence suggesting childhood diseases help protect against future heart disease. "[A] Japanese study … looked at over 100,000 men and women of elderly age. They looked back at their history of catching these common childhood illnesses. Did they catch chickenpox, rubella, measles and mumps? What they found was it's actually protective against heart disease. You're protected against heart attacks and various types of arteriosclerotic disease of the artery systems. It's protecting the arterial system so that you are protected not only — when you catch these diseases — from cancers, but from heart disease, heart attacks and strokes as well … There are different theories on why that takes place. But the important thing is that study after study confirms that it takes place." Vaccines Create Problematic Mutations Another vaccine-related problem that many are completely unaware of is the fact that vaccines cause mutations in the disease-bearing microorganisms, much in the same way antibiotics cause bacteria to mutate. The diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTaP), for example, has caused the pertussis microorganism, Bordetella pertussis, to mutate and evade the vaccine. The same thing happened with the pneumococcal vaccine and the Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine. "They're finding, for example, when you've got a vaccine that targets only certain strains of disease where multiple strains are actually causing the disease, the vaccine is pretty effective at reducing the incidence of disease from that particular strain. But what happens is the other strains come and take their place … They come back even stronger. That's what [happened] with Prevnar, a vaccine for pneumococcus, pneumococcal disease. All infants that receive vaccines according to the CDC's standard immunization schedule receive a pneumococcal vaccine at 2, 4 and 6 months of age. That vaccine only targeted seven strains. Pneumococcal has 90 different strains capable of causing pneumococcal disease. They came out with a new vaccine in 2010 … to deal with the vaccine losing its efficacy because of what I just explained. The new vaccine included the original seven strains plus six additional strains, the ones that were causing most of the pneumococcal disease now. Within two years of the new upgraded, updated pneumococcal vaccine, the strains had already mutated." Tragically, parents are being blamed and harassed for many of these vaccine failures. Parents are being told that if you don't vaccinate your kids, you are responsible for spreading the disease. That's the idea the CDC, the medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry are promoting. However, if you actually read the studies, you'll find what the scientists know —the real problem is evolutionary adaptation. Dr. Meryl Nass expounded on this issue in a 2013 interview. The microorganisms adapt. "What's happened with pertussis [is] the pertussis microorganism has changed. It's now not only become more virulent; it's become more prevalent," Miller explains. "It's evaded the actual vaccine." Herd Immunity Cannot Be Achieved Through Immunizations Another core argument for mass vaccinations is achieving herd immunity. Miller believes that herd immunity may never be achieved through vaccination because high vaccination rates encourage the evolution of more severe disease-causing agents. In a vaccinated population, the virulence increases due to selective pressure, as the pathogen is strengthened and adapts in its fight for survival against the vaccine. Meanwhile, in an unvaccinated population, the environment actually promotes lowered virulence, as the pathogen does not want to kill its host. A wise pathogen is one that's able to infect many hosts without killing them, because when the host dies, the pathogen loses the environment upon which its own survival depends. However, once the disease organism mutates and becomes more virulent within the vaccinated population, it raises the stakes not only among the vaccinated but also among the unvaccinated, who are now faced with a far more virulent foe than normal. "In terms of herd immunity, you not only have … this selective pressure that's keeping you from being able to achieve herd immunity (because the microorganisms are always attempting to evade the vaccine), and some vaccines like pertussis are only 60 percent effective. That's with the best estimates. And that's only for a couple of years. Studies show that even after three, four or five years, you're back to almost no efficacy whatsoever, almost back to the pre-vaccine period. How can you expect to achieve herd immunity with a vaccine that is only 60 percent effective? You can vaccinate 100 percent of the population and you cannot achieve herd immunity with a vaccine that is only 60 percent effective. Influenza vaccines — many years, these vaccines are not good matches for the circulating virus — so you have zero percent efficacy. In the best years, you only have 30 to 50 percent efficacy." Studies Show Vaccinations Increase Infant Mortality One of the tenets of conventional medicine is that if you vaccinate a population, everyone is going to be healthier. There will be less disease. But when you compare vaccination rates and health statistics, you find the converse is actually true. This is some of the most compelling information Miller shares in his book. For example, when comparing vaccination rates in 34 developed nations, they found a significant correlation between infant mortality rates and the number of vaccine doses infants received. Developed nations like the United States that require the most vaccines tend to have the highest infant mortality. "I'm the lead author on that study, actually. My co-author was Gary Goldman [Ph.D., who] worked for the CDC for seven years. He quit when he found that the CDC was not allowing anything detrimental [to get out]. Goldman found problems with the chickenpox vaccine and wanted to publish that data. The CDC said, 'We're not going to allow you to do that.' That's when Goldman quit. Goldman and I did two peer-reviewed studies. The children in the United States are required — if they follow the CDC's immunization schedule — to receive the most vaccines in the world. Twenty-six vaccines. Other developed nations require less. Some nations only require 12 vaccines — Switzerland, Sweden, Iceland and other European nations — yet they have better infant mortality rates. That's what our study looked at. [V]accines are promoted as being lifesaving. They're given to children to protect them against dying from infectious diseases. We gathered all the immunization schedules from the 34 nations [and found] the United States had the 34th worst infant mortality rate ... It had the worst. Thirty-three nations in the developed world had better infant mortality rates. We did the study and we found what many people would find to be a counterintuitive relationship. We found a statistically significant relationship. There was a direct correlation between the number of vaccines that a nation required for their infants and the infant mortality rate. The more vaccines that a nation required, the worse the infant mortality rate." Why Is This Not Front-Page News? Many naïvely believe that if vaccines truly were doing more harm than good, it would be front-page news. The reason you rarely if ever hear anything about studies such as this one is because the vaccine industry has an iron grip on the information being publicly disseminated. Collusion between federal agencies, the government and the industry is just one of several hurdles preventing this kind of information from being widely known. You have individuals like Dr. Julie Gerberding, who headed up the CDC and was in charge of infectious disease recommendations for seven years before moving on to become president of Merck Vaccines, one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world. That's just one of many dozens of examples of this revolving door, which in turn has led to the breakdown of true science-based medicine. "We have a serious problem with the pharmaceutical industry controlling which studies get published. Also, the pharmaceutical companies are controlling the advertising dollars that go out to the major media. Mainstream media makes approximately 70 percent of its income from pharmaceutical ads. They do not want to publish or promote anything that would be critical of vaccines because it could compromise their potential to keep bringing in millions of dollars they make every year from the pharmaceutical companies." Giving Multiple Simultaneous Vaccines Is Extremely Risky, Study Shows The second study Miller and Goldman published analyzed nearly 40,000 reports of infants who suffered adverse reactions after vaccines. Here, they found that infants given the most vaccines were significantly more likely to be hospitalized or die compared to those who received fewer vaccines. It's worth noting that this data was obtained from the vaccine adverse event reporting system (VAERS) database, a passive reporting system, and that research has confirmed passive reporting systems underreport by 50 to 1. What this means is that when you find one report in VAERS, you have to multiply that by 50 to get closer to reality because, on average, only 1 in 50 adverse events are ever reported. Doctors have a legal obligation to report side effects to VAERS, but they don't, and there are no ramifications for failure to make a report. Parents can also make a report to the database, and I encourage all parents to do so, should your child experience a vaccine reaction. At present, VAERS has over 500,000 reports of adverse reactions to vaccines, and every year, more than 30,000 new reports are added to it. Miller and Goldman downloaded this database and created a program to extract all the reports involving infants. In all, they extracted the reports of 38,000 infants who experienced an adverse reaction following the receipt of one or more vaccines. They then created a program that was able to determine the number of vaccines each infant had received before suffering an adverse reaction, and stratified the reports by the number of vaccines (anywhere from one to eight) the infants had received simultaneously before the reaction took place. They specifically honed in on serious adverse reactions requiring hospitalization or that led to death. Here's what they found: • Infants who received three vaccines simultaneously were statistically and significantly more likely to be hospitalized or die after receiving their vaccines than children who received two vaccines at the same time • Infants who received four vaccines simultaneously were statistically and significantly more likely to be hospitalized or die than children who received three or two vaccines, and so on all the way up to eight vaccines • Children who received eight vaccines simultaneously were "off-the-charts" statistically and significantly more likely to be hospitalized or die after receiving those vaccines • Children who received vaccines at an earlier age were significantly more likely to be hospitalized or die than children who receive those vaccines at a later age Childhood Vaccination Schedule Is Based on Convenience, Not Science or Safety As noted by Miller: "The industry, the CDC and Dr. Paul Offit tell us that you can take multiple vaccines. Offit said you could theoretically take 10,000 vaccines at one time; that an infant can be exposed to that many pathogens simultaneously without hurting the child. The CDC's immunization schedule requires that children receive eight vaccines at 2 months of age, eight vaccines at 4 months of age and eight vaccines at 6 months of age. I ask parents, 'When did you ever take eight drugs at the same time? … If you did take eight drugs at the same time, would you think it was more likely that you would or would not have an adverse reaction?' Because toxicologists know that the more drugs you take at the same time, the more potential for some kind of a synergistic or additive toxicity … What this study confirms is that it's a dangerous practice to give multiple vaccines simultaneously. The CDC has put together a schedule based on convenience. They say '[G]ive eight vaccines at 2 months, give eight more vaccines at 4 months and give eight more booster shots at 6 months' because it's convenient. They're afraid that parents will not come to the pediatrician again and again and again if they have to keep coming back for more vaccines, so they get multiple [shots all at once]. They said, 'We're going to make this schedule based on convenience.' Not based on evidence. Not based on science. There's nothing scientific about the CDC's recommended immunization schedule. We've shown it with our study. We also showed that children who received vaccines at an earlier age are statistically significantly more likely to be hospitalized or die than children who receive it at a later age. We divided it up to children who receive their vaccines in the first 6 months of age versus children who receive their vaccines in the last six months of infancy. Again, off-the-charts statistically significant, it's much more dangerous to give younger infants multiple vaccines than to give older infants multiple vaccines. This makes sense because they're giving the same dose to a newborn or a baby that might be 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 pounds at 2 months of age versus a child who might be 15 or 17 pounds … at a later age." More Information You can find "Miller's Review of Critical Vaccine Studies: 400 Important Scientific Papers Summarized for Parents and Researchers" on ThinkTwice.com. This book is an invaluable resource for parents who want to do their due diligence before making up their mind about whether or not to vaccinate their children. On his website, you will also find his other books, along with studies and publications relating to vaccine safety and efficacy concerns. Another resource is the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC). NVIC is leading the charge when it comes to educating the public about efforts to impose mandatory vaccinations, and how to preserve our health freedoms on the local, state and federal levels. **Ultimately, everyone will have to make a choice about vaccinations. The key is to make it an informed one — to understand and weigh the potential risks and benefits. To do that, you need access to both sides of the debate, and Miller has done us all a great favor by making the largely hidden side of the equation more readily accessible. Source: mercola.com, 7/15/17.

Fix Stress-Related Burnout

Unless kept in check, stress can wreak absolute havoc on your life, undercutting your health and depressing your very will to live. Around the world, "burnout" is becoming an increasingly pervasive problem, affecting people from all walks of life. Being successful per se will not insulate you from burnout. On the contrary, it may actually raise your risk. "The Day I Snapped" is a mental health documentary featuring five professionals who walked into the proverbial wall one day, "suddenly" unable to cope any longer. However, as noted in the film, while the crisis may appear sudden, that moment when a person "snaps" is really the culmination of an untenable situation that has been going on for a long time. Why the Modern Workplace Promotes Burnout The five individuals in the film suffered burnout due to work-related stress, which is the most typical scenario. But what is it about the modern workplace that pressures people beyond their limits? Key factors highlighted in the film include: 1. People are expected to work at a much faster pace than previously, while frequently having to put in longer hours and/or being closely monitored and evaluated based on a variety of performance metrics. In some workplaces, the pace is so high; they cannot even take a proper lunch break. As noted by one of the individuals in the film, it is the "having no choice in what you do" on any given day that "makes the stress unbearable" 2. Job duties are changing (and expanding) more frequently than before and when combined with poor direction or guidance from management, it can cause a great deal of uncertainty and performance anxiety 3. Many jobs for which people are trained are being eliminated, thereby preventing many from fulfilling their skill-potential. This in turn can breed unhappiness and feelings of worthlessness 4. Deteriorating social support at home and at work Are You Headed Toward Burnout? In the U.K., work is the third leading cause of stress, trailing right behind bereavement and financial woes. In the U.S., work ranks second on the list of sources of significant stress. According to the film, nearly 7 million working days are lost each year in the U.K. to stress-related illnesses such as skin conditions, insomnia, heart disease, memory impairment, digestive problems, autoimmune disorders and depression, just to name a few. In reality, just about any ailment or disease can be triggered or worsened by stress. Symptoms of burnout include but are not limited to: • Physical exhaustion, signaled by chronic fatigue, insomnia, forgetfulness, impaired concentration, inattentiveness, physical illness and loss of appetite • Emotional exhaustion, a "feeling of internal collapse," loss of perspective, detachment, irritability, frequent anger, loss of enjoyment, pessimism, increasing isolation, apathy and hopelessness • Reduced performance and productivity despite best efforts, loss of self-esteem, feeling like a failure • Depression Frequently, people on the road toward burnout will turn to alcohol or other addictive substances in an effort to prop themselves up to avoid the inevitable. Sadly, one of the most serious side effects of burnout is suicide. If you are feeling desperate or have any thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a toll-free number: (800) 273-TALK (8255). Alternatively, call 911 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department. Preventing Burnout Is Easier Than Recovering From It If you recognize the warning signs of burnout in yourself or someone you care about, remember this: Preventing burnout is a lot easier than recovering from it. Recovery usually takes time — six months or more is not uncommon. The five professionals in the film all eventually recovered, through a variety of different means, which highlights the need to be flexible enough to identify your unique needs. Just as the circumstances that brought you to a crisis point will be unique, so will your recovery. That said, some basic guidelines can be given (see below). A key point that may initially be difficult to accept is that you need to change how you live. The way you've been living so far does not work, and merely taking a few weeks off, only to return right back to it, is rarely going to suffice. For the featured professionals in the film, all of whom suffered "executive burnout" or burnout brought on by chronic work stress, part of the answer was a change in profession. For three of them, this involved going into business for themselves and doing more physically demanding work, as opposed to working in an office. How to Reduce Work Stress and Prevent Burnout If you feel you might be headed toward the proverbial wall, please consider addressing the situation before you break down completely. Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter offers the following advice for those struggling with work stress. • Take inventory. Write down all of the situations that trigger stress in your life: situations that make you feel worried, anxious, frustrated or helpless. Keep adding to this list as you go along. Next to each item on the list, write down what you can do to reduce the stress it's generating, and implement those solutions whenever possible. • Just say no. Saying no is one of the best ways to protect your energy reserves. Avoid taking on new responsibilities or commitments while you're in recovery. If something must be done, see if you can delegate the task to someone else. Avoid the trap of thinking no one else will be able to do it as well as you. Sometimes "good enough" really is enough. • Schedule breaks and take time to socialize. Make sure you take breaks between projects, to give your mind and body time to recover. Also, be sure to schedule breaks on a daily basis, and do not take work home with you. Cultivating a social life is an important aspect of a well-balanced life, so avoid the temptation to make work your sole focus. • Manage your electronic devices wisely. Smartphones, iPads and computers can be an enormous time drain if you don't manage their use well. The constant barrage of message notifications can be a major source of stress in and of itself. Turn down the stress by turning off all notifications on your devices; batch process your emails, at most four times a day, and restrict social media to a specific time or place rather than trying to "keep up" on an hour-by-hour basis. • Stop multitasking. Giving up multitasking is one of the key strategies of highly productive people. Focusing on one thing at a time will also make you calmer and less stressed out. The Importance of Maintaining Balance in Your Life I recently interviewed Dr. Joseph Maroon on the topic of burnout. He is a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and author of "Square One: A Simple Guide to a Balanced Life," a book that grew out of his own struggles with burnout. The recovery plan detailed in "Square One" is based on William H. Danforth's work, which emphasizes that you have not one but four lives to live: • Physical life • Spiritual life • Work life • Relationship life Maintaining balance between each of these four life segments is key. Each of these needs to be actively pursued and nourished on a daily basis. "We all know that you can't avoid stress in this world — divorce, our jobs; 40 percent of people have difficulty with job relationships," Maroon says. "What happens [is], you get an elevated cortisol level in your blood. What does [excess] cortisol do to the brain? It kills brain cells. What does it do to your memory? It reduces memory, our tissues and everything else. That's what excess chronic unremitting stress [causes], which is what I personally went through. It's incredible depression. Most doctors think depression is [treatable] with antidepressants. I have no doubt that physical activity is the most effective antidepressant we can use … [It] gets all the neurotransmitters back into order — your dopamine, your serotonin and your acetylcholine. The point is we can't escape adversity. We can't escape stress. But what happened to me is I didn't recognize how bad off I was in a one dimensional life." How to Regain Balance and Heal Burnout Based on these four life segments, you can see that to prevent or recover from burnout, you need: • Exercise and a healthy diet that optimizes mitochondrial function and limits inflammation (physical nourishment) • Mindfulness or some form of spiritual practice (spiritual nourishment) • Ideally, work that suits your personality and gives you meaning and purpose; at bare minimum, strategies to control your day-to-day work stress (work-related pursuits) • Family time and social contacts, and/or a hobby or volunteer work (relationship-related pursuits) In a nutshell, recovering from burnout (or avoiding it in the first place) boils down to finding and maintaining a balance between your work life, physical activities, relationships and spirituality or mindfulness. As noted by Maroon: "You need exercise. You need a degree of meditation and spirituality … If you look at people who live to be centenarians … They all have in common a healthy diet and work. They work hard, which is their physical activity … They control stress with, usually, a very strong family unit, spirituality, religion or church. All those things are mindfulness. All reduce stress, the excess cortisol, and try to keep our bodies in balance." To this, I would add a fifth life category that needs balance, and that is sleep. Sleep deprivation dramatically impairs your body's ability to handle stress, and has absolutely no redeeming consequences. Working rather than sleeping will not allow you to get ahead or accomplish more. It's only going to make matters worse. Treating your sleep as "sacred time" that cannot be infringed upon can go a long way toward managing your overall stress and maintaining balance in your life. Finding Work-Life Balance Is Worth Every Effort On the whole, leading a balanced life is not rocket science, but it can still be difficult to do. It's much easier, actually, to focus on work to the exclusion of everything else. Finding balance takes a bit of work. It may require finding and setting new boundaries, which may feel unfamiliar and maybe even a bit frightening at first. The alternative, however, is far worse than any discomfort you might experience as you strive for balance. Arianna Huffington is perhaps one of the most well-known public personas who suffered burnout — and wrote a book about it. In "Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom and Wonder," Huffington, who is the chairman, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, details her downward spiral, and her journey back to health. Her self-reflection resulted in a new definition of success, which includes a "third metric" besides the two conventional ones: money and power. This third metric consists of four pillars: • Health and well-being. If you sacrifice your health and well-being in the pursuit of success, you're really paying an insanely high price. The result of this sacrifice includes everything from diabetes to heart disease, and other stress-related afflictions like depression, alcoholism or drug addiction • Wisdom. As Huffington says: "We have a lot of very smart leaders around making terrible decisions. The problem is not that they don't have a high IQ; the problem is that they are not connected with their inner wisdom. Taking time to connect with the source of our inner wisdom and strength is essential" • Joy and childlike wonder. It's also important to bring joy into your everyday life and to connect with the sense that you are part of "something larger." This includes appreciating ordinary beauty and small everyday miracles • Giving. No complete life is ever lived just for oneself. When you integrate giving, wonder, wisdom and well-being together with the first two metrics of money and power, you can really have a complete life, filled with meaning and purpose. Source: mercola.com, 6/25/17.

Tips to Improve Sleep

Sleep is normally an outcome of two variables: • Sleepiness — Under normal conditions, your sleepiness should increase throughout the day, peaking just before you go to bed at night. This is ideal, as you want your sleep to be high at the beginning of the night. Making sure you're exposed to bright sunlight and high-quality lighting during the day, followed by decreased light exposure once the sun sets, will help maximize your natural sleep cycle so that you're appropriately sleepy by bedtime • Noise — Noise occurs in three zones: the mind level, body level and the environmental level To get a good night's sleep, you want your sleepiness level to be high and the noise level to be low. If the noise is conceptually greater than your level of sleepiness, you will not fall asleep. Examples of body noise include pain, discomfort, indigestion or residual caffeine from drinking coffee too late in the day. Environmental noise includes traffic, a snoring partner, music, lights or being too hot. The most common type of mind noise is called "cognitive popcorn," those unstoppable thoughts running through your mind as soon as your head hits the pillow. This is also the most commonly reported cause of insomnia. Racing Thoughts Keeping You Up at Night? As noted in a recent CNN article on this topic: "Some nights, it's like you can't get your brain to shut up long enough for you to fall asleep. You're mentally reviewing the day you just completed while also previewing the day ahead; sometimes, your mind may even reach way back into the archives and pull up something embarrassing you did back in high school. There's no one solution that will work for everybody, of course, so instead, we've rounded up suggestions from eight sleep experts." Here's a summary of some of the tips gleaned from sleep experts, with regard to quieting racing thoughts: 1. Use creative distractions. If worry has you in its grip, try thinking of something else that interests you but is of no importance. Sleep expert Neil Stanley, Ph.D., said, "I fly a lot, so I imagine I have my own private jet and how would I arrange the furniture on it. If you're someone who likes going to music festivals, what would your lineup be?" 2. Get out of bed. Rather than tossing and turning, allowing frustration to grow, get out of bed. Try writing your thoughts down; just be sure to keep the lights dim. Telling yourself you're going to try to stay awake instead may also have the paradoxical effect of making you sleepy. The reason for this is because once you're OK with being awake, your frustration and arousal level drops, making it easier to fall asleep 3. Make a plan to spend more time in the sun. Oftentimes, lack of sun exposure during the day (especially in the early morning) is to blame for persistent sleep problems. Bright sunlight first thing in the morning and/or around noon helps set your internal clock, allowing you to fall asleep "on schedule" 4. Sleep in less clothes. While not addressed by CNN's sleep experts, one of the benefits of sleeping less clothed is improved sleep quality, in part by preventing overheating. One study showed a surface skin temperature difference of as little as 0.08 degrees F led to sounder sleep. 5. Do some controlled breathing. Breathing is both an involuntary and a voluntary process. You can alter the speed and the depth of your breathing, and you can choose to breathe through your mouth or your nose. These choices lead to physical changes in your body. Slow, deep and steady breathing activates your parasympathetic response while rapid, shallow breathing activates your sympathetic response, involved in releasing cortisol and other stress hormones. The combination of controlled breathing with counting can be particularly effective when your mind refuses to shut down at night, as it gives your mind something to focus on. One breathing exercise involving counting that you could try is the 4-7-8 breathing technique taught by Dr. Andrew Weil. It's a potent remedy for anxiety, as it acts as a natural tranquilizer for your nervous system Emergency Remedy Recommendations In the short term, you could try a gentle sleep aid while implementing more permanent lifestyle and/or environmental changes. Natural sleep remedies that may help you get a good night's sleep include: • Melatonin. Start with as little as 0.25 milligrams (mg) and work your way up in quarter-gram increments from there until you get the desired effect . • Valerian root. Studies have found valerian root helps improve the speed at which you fall asleep, depth of sleep (achieving deep sleep 36 percent faster) and overall quality of sleep. Start with a minimal dose and use the lowest dose needed to achieve the desired effect, as higher dosages can have an energizing effect in some people. Typical dosages used in studies range between 400 mg and 900 mg, taken anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours before bed. • Chamomile. This herb is typically used in the form of infusions, teas, liquid extracts or essential oils made from the plant's fresh or dried flower heads. It has sedative effects that may help with sleep, which is why chamomile tea is often sipped before bed. • 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). The chemical 5-HTP promotes production of serotonin, thereby giving mood a boost and enhancing sleep. In one study, an amino acid preparation containing both GABA (a calming neurotransmitter) and 5-HTP reduced time to fall asleep, increased the duration of sleep and improved sleep quality. As you can see, sleep problems can have any number of root causes and contributing factors, but considering the alternative, taking the time to identify your triggers is well worth the effort. Sleeping well is a foundational aspect of good health, so every effort should be made to get as high-quality sleep as possible. *Feel free to ask your doctor at our office for additional information. Source: CNN.com, 6/6/17.

For a better quality of life, answer these 3 questions

Whether it's having a more successful business, a healthier body, a stronger relationship or all of the above; people are always on the lookout for ways to improve. The good news is everyone has the power to create a better quality of life, says author and entrepreneur Tony Robbins, speaking recently at Oprah Winfrey's SuperSoul Sessions. The key is answering these three questions: 1. What are you going to focus on? People tend to focus more on what's missing from their lives, says Robbins. That's not always a bad thing – it's important when you want to make a change, he explains, "but when you do it as an ongoing pattern, how are you going to feel when you're always focusing on what's missing from your life? Awful. "When you're in an awful state, do you feel like changing things? No, it sucks the energy out of you," says Robbins. "If you focus on what you don't have, it's very hard to succeed." Instead, become clear about what you want and get obsessed with it, because that combination of emotion and vision is what will drive you. "We need to get laser focused on what it is we really want," he advises. "Having a clear result or outcome and consistently focusing on it immediately changes your behavior, giving you the momentum" to achieve. "Execution trumps knowledge every day of the week." -Tony Robbins, business strategist 2. What meaning are you going to give things? "The meaning you give events, interactions and outcomes determines how you feel," explains Robbins. "By creating a ladder of positive and empowering meanings, you effectively change the direction of your life and provide yourself rational, proven reasons your success will continue." 3. What are you going to do? "Knowledge is not power, it's potential power," says Robbins during SuperSoul Sessions. Most people get inspired to make a change, and then end up doing nothing about it. Robbins says the smartest thing he does is refuse to "learn something or make a decision about something valuable without making myself do something in the moment that commits me to follow through." Everyone who wants change should do the same, Robbins says, whether that's scheduling a meeting or telling someone else what you're committing to, because if you hesitate, a million distractions will come up and you'll lose your momentum. Source: CNBC.com, 5/21/17.

Recycling Mistakes Most People Make

In the U.S., nearly 260 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated annually. Nearly 90 million tons of this MSW are recycled or composted, for a recycling rate of close to 35 percent. It's a good start, but there's clearly room for improvement, especially because many of the items Americans throw in their recycling bins are not actually recyclable. Many people toss questionable items in their bins hoping to give them a shot at being recycled, but the reality is that certain non-recyclable items will only be tossed into the trash bin at the recycling center. Worse, some of the items may end up contaminating entire loads of recyclables that would otherwise have gone on to other uses. During a visit to Denver's recycling facility, and specifically the waste management sorting facility, The Denver Post identified some of the top mistakes well-meaning recyclers make. Six Top Recycling Mistakes Recycling requirements vary by municipality, but in general you can use these suggestions from Denver, Colorado to determine if you're making common recycling mistakes. To verify the recycling guidelines in your area, contact your local facility. 1. Plastic Bags Shouldn't Go Into Your Recycling Bin. Municipal recycling facilities often do not recycle plastic bags, which can get caught in their machinery causing damage. Many grocery stores, however, have collection bins where you can drop off plastic bags to be recycled. 2. Avoiding Putting Your Recyclables Into Trash Bags. If you put your recyclables into closed trash bags, they'll get thrown straight into the trash. This is because sorters don't have time to open them, and they're also considered to be a safety hazard. 3. Greasy, Wet or Food-Soiled Items Cannot Be Recycled. Grease, liquids (even water) and food are considered contaminants. If they make it down the sorting line without being tossed out, they can contaminate an entire load of recyclables, causing it to be thrown out. Examples of items that cannot be recycled include: • Foil potato chip bags • Greasy pizza boxes (if you rip off the unsoiled cardboard lid, that can be recycled) • Foil lids from yogurt containers (however foil food trays and pie tins may be accepted as long as you remove as much food as possible) • Paper cups with shiny coatings, such as hot-serve coffee cups • Paper food bowls with plastic lining (such as those used for Chipotle burrito bowls) 4. Very Small Items Cannot Be Recycled. The Denver Post described it as "anything smaller than a Post-it note" cannot be recycled, because it's too small to be sorted properly. This includes plastic bottle caps, unless you screw them onto the bottle (be sure to empty all liquid out first, or the bottle will be discarded). 5. Don't Flatten Milk Cartons. Waxy milk cartons can be recycled, but if they're missed via hand sorting an infrared optical sorter will pick them out (and certain other three-dimensional items) from the mix. If you crush the cartons, they may be missed. 6. These Items Can't Be Recycled. Anything that enters a recycling center that cannot be recycled is considered a contaminant and will be thrown out. If too many contaminants are found in a bundle of recyclables, it runs the risk of being rejected. Examples of non-recyclable items in Denver include: Scrap metal Plastic that does not hold a shape Christmas tree lights Wire hangers Electronics (there are specialized centers for this) Auto parts Propane tanks Mattresses Bowling balls Bicycles Source: The Denver Post, 4/30/17.

10 Things You Should Never Put Down the Drain

Your kitchen sink consistently rates as one of the dirtiest places in your home. According to NSF International, a public health and safety organization, your dishrag and kitchen sink top the list of places in your home with the most germs. Your kitchen sink may be a source of frustration when it becomes clogged, or may be an area through which you inadvertently are polluting the environment. The plumbing in your home may seem like a mystery since it's usually hidden behind walls and under the sink. Once you understand how it works in your home, and how it's treated when it leaves your house, you'll have a greater ability to maintain your plumbing pipes and reduce your impact on environmental pollution. How Plumbing Works The plumbing in your home is a little like the arteries and veins that transport nutrients and oxygen around your body. The term plumbing is actually used to describe any system that moves fluids from one area to another. Plumbing may be used for sanitation, heating and cooling and water supply, but isn't limited to those functions. In your home, most of your plumbing pipes are located under your sinks or in your walls as they transport wastewater out of your home and deliver drinking water into the house. Fluid is transported using a system of pipes, fittings and tanks, any of which may become obstructed with bits of whatever is going down your drain. Plumbing follows the laws of gravity, and has two subsystems that don't cross. One delivers clean water in and the other transports wastewater out. When water enters your home, it's under pressure. As it exits, water drains through pipes that are angled downward. When the pipes become caked with grease, bits of food or other objects, it impedes the flow of water out of your home. Don't Flush These Items Down the Drain As what you put down your drain has an impact on both plumbing in your home and the environment, it's important to understand how your plumbing works and how to reduce damage done to your own property and the environment. You may accomplish these goals by never putting the following items down your drain. And you may reduce your financial risk, as plumbing repairs can be costly. 1. Grease - Grease sticks to the inside of your pipes, both on your property and in the street. Over time it can block the entire pipe. Instead, scrape grease into the trash. Any oils are a major contributor to drain clogs, which includes mayonnaise, salad dressing, butter, cooking oils and fats from cooking meats, such as bacon, beef and pork. Motor oil and transmission fluid shouldn't go down your sink drain or toilet either. 2. Egg Shells - Egg shells are composed of a hard outer shell and a thin membranous inner layer. The shells are hard on the blades of your garbage disposal, reducing the overall life of the appliance. The thin membranous layer may wrap around the grinding apparatus and slow the motor until it burns out. The shells may compound the development of other blockages. 3. Coffee Grounds - These don't harm your garbage disposal and may help absorb odors, but they do accumulate in your pipes and increase the risk you'll experience a clogged drain. Coffee grounds do make an excellent addition to your compost pile. 4. Expandable Foods - Foods like pasta and rice continue to expand as they soak in additional water in your garbage disposal and drain pipes. Pastas are often made with semolina flour, which becomes sticky and easily gums up your pipes. 5. Flour - Have you mixed flour and water together? Basically, this produces glue, sticking to the sides of the drain pipes and capturing any other little bits of garbage along the way. 6. Produce Stickers - You wouldn't think of using your sink to dispose of your grocery list, but those produce stickers often fall off when you're washing fruits and vegetables. They often include bits of plastic and are coated with adhesive, neither of which are water-soluble. They may be caught in grease coating your drains, get caught in pumps and hoses or block the screens and filters at your water treatment plant. 7. Paper Products - Toilet paper is developed to eventually break apart in water. Other paper products do not break apart after being flushed down the toilet or after going through the garbage disposal in your sink. Products like paper towels, feminine hygiene products and cotton balls should go into your garbage can instead. Each of these items have a high absorbency rate, making them perfect for clogging your pipes. 8. Biodegradable or 'Flushable' Products - Many of the products advertised as flushable or biodegradable may meet specific standards for the term, but often increase your risk of drain clogs. For instance, flushable cat litter continues to be highly absorbent in the drain. Cat feces may carry the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, which is not destroyed in water treatment and is a threat to marine animals. Wet wipes are another serious problem in your sewer drain. They don't disintegrate properly and often combine with other products to produce a large super-knot. New York City has spent more than $18 million in five years to repair equipment problems triggered by so-called "flushable wipes." 9. Paint and Cleaning Products - While they are in liquid form, these products both increase your risk of developing a drain clog and pollute the environment. Your city will have different requirements for latex and oil paint, so it's important to get that information from your municipality. Conventional cleaning products often contain phosphates, antibacterial agents and other compounds that don't often get removed at your water treatment plant. 10. Medications - It might seem logical to flush your expired or unused medication down the toilet or crush it in your garbage disposal, but research demonstrates that a high number of those medications do not get removed at your local wastewater treatment plant and then enter the environment. Even your tap water likely has a small amount of medication you're drinking every day, as neither wastewater treatment nor clean water treatment before it gets delivered to your home is able to remove medications. Source: NSF International, 4/12/17.

MD's told to ‘Avoid drugs’ for Lowback Pain

In an update to a report issued 10 years ago, the American College of Physicians (ACP) published a meta-analysis on the treatment of low-back pain. The study, released on February 14, 2017, is in the form of guidelines directed toward “all clinicians” and the patient population suffering from acute, subacute, and chronic low-back pain. In this terminology, “acute” stands for pain lasting fewer than four weeks, “subacute” for pain lasting from four to 12 weeks, and “chronic” meaning pain lasting more than 12 weeks. The researchers conclude their findings with three recommendations, based on their assessment of evidence-based outcomes for the patient population with respect to standard noninvasive approaches to treatment. Namely, they examined how patients responded to pharmacologic treatment and nonpharmacologic treatment; in other words, Standard Allopathic Medicine and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) like chiropractic care. The ACP recognizes that low-back pain is one of the most common health complaints in the U.S., and cite statistics with which every doctor of chiropractic (DC) is intimately familiar. They estimate the total cost (in 2006), between active care and lost productivity, to have been approximately $100 billion—a number likely to be considerably higher today. In looking at pharmacologic approaches to low-back pain treatment, acetaminophen was found to be on a par with placebo, offering little benefit but presenting known risks of liver damage. Other drugs, ranging from cox-2 inhibitors to NSAIDs to opioids, offered slightly greater benefits but with higher pronounced risk. On the other hand, when looking at nonpharmacologic approaches, including exercise, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, ice/heat therapy, low level laser therapy, and others (tai chi, yoga, ultrasound, etc.), measurable positive outcomes were found with virtually zero risks. The researchers concluded that, given the evidence at hand in the new study and in the older one, that treatment should always begin with nonpharmacologic approaches first, and only those patients who are nonresponsive to them should be considered for drug therapy or invasive medicine. Specifically, the three recommendations of the study authors are: 1. Given that most patients with low-back pain of any type tend to improve over time regardless of treatment type, they should first turn to the most conservative forms of care (massage, chiropractic, etc.), and NSAIDs and muscle relaxants can be considered if necessary. 2. For patients with chronic low-back pain, the first option should be nonpharmacologic conservative care. Patients in this group respond more strongly to alternative care like chiropractic care than those in the acute and subacute groups. 3. Patients with chronic low-back pain who fail to respond to nonpharmacologic approaches could consider pharmacologic treatment, starting with those products known to present the least risk, and after being educated by their provider about the known risks posed by such products. These recommendations are in keeping with the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. **It is noteworthy to see an MD association admit that CAM approaches compared to medical care—and here specifically chiropractic is included—offer superior outcomes to standard allopathic medicine. These results were striking enough that they were summarized in the February 14, 2017, edition of the Wall Street Journal (“No Drugs for Back Pain, New Guidelines Say: The American College of Physicians says to use natural and alternative therapies first”). Source: Chiropractic Economics, 3/19/17.

10 Things Happy Couples Do When They Fight, According To Experts

No relationship is perfect, and every couple has their own share of ups and downs. However, what separates happy couples from miserable couples is how arguments are handled. There a number of things happy couples do when they fight that make their arguments more productive and less hurtful, and knowing these behaviors can help you improve your own relationship as well. All couples are unique, but certain habits prove to be more effective when it comes to disagreements. Contrary to what you might believe, fighting — the proper way — can actually be healthy and strengthen your relationship. “When couples have fights, that is a sign that they feel comfortable enough to express their differences without feeling like their entire relationship could implode,” says relationship expert Megan Stubbs, EdD, ACS. “When one party constantly goes along with what the other does, it can be a sign that they don't feel secure in the relationship. They don't want to upset the status quo for fear of the repercussions.” Bottling up your feelings isn’t right, but neither is exploding on your partner and making them feel bad. If you feel like your fights are more destructive than productive, try paying attention to these nine things that happy couples do when they fight. 1) They Avoid Name Calling Calling your partner stupid or insulting them only adds fuel to the fire, and it won’t help resolve anything, no matter how upset you are. “When happy couples fight, they make sure to keep whatever issue they are fighting about at the forefront and won't use name calling to bring their partner down,” says Stubbs. 2) They Stay Focused In The Present Happy couples avoid bringing up past discretions, especially if they’re not relevant to the argument. “If something has been put to rest, they don't bring it up to gain the upper hand of a fight,” says Stubbs. Focus on the issues at hand instead of digging up sensitive moments from the past. 3) They Look For Compromise Looking for compromise is essential, and attentively listening to your partner can help you get there. “Ultimately they know that they are a team and that despite their differences, their relationship is (hopefully) greater than the conflict,” says Stubbs. 4) They Keep It Between Themselves “In a healthy relationship, no one is taking their fight to social media or engaging friends or family to have someone on their side,” says psychologist and relationship expert Antonia Hall, MA over email. “Happy couples know that they are a team, and if they want to make the relationship work, they have to work things out with each other.” 5) They Work Through It Right Away “Taking a little time to regroup, gather one's thoughts and calm down is a healthy part of working through disagreements, but letting things carry on unresolved for days isn't,” says Hall. “In a happy relationship, couples work things out in a timely manner so they don't escalate and they get back to enjoying each other faster.” 6) They Accept Apologies When a partner offers a sincere apology, the other person is willing to accept it instead of holding onto anger or hurt. “Trying to hold something against one's partner only creates more pain and distance,” says Hall. “In a true partnership, couples apologize and forgive one another.” 7) They Avoid Interrupting During a fight, happy couples let their partners express their feelings without interruption. “Just listen,” says relationship expert Audrey Hope over email. “Things will calm down, but first hear each other. If your significant other is taking time to scream, shout or make a point, then there must be a good reason. Allow the madness. It can only lead you to a better understanding.” 8) They Admit When They're Wrong “Stop having to be right for a change,” says Hope. “What is winning after all, if you lose the one you love? Accept, surrender and know that laying down the armor in a fight is actually a win.” 9) They Avoid Generalizations Happy couples avoid using phrases like “you never,” or “you always.” “Generalizations don't help address the specific issue at hand,” says Stubbs. Focus on explaining how that person made you feel in this specific instance. 10) They Respect When The Fight's Over “Once a disagreement is resolved, loving partners don't continue to bring them up over and over again,” says Hall. “Committed sweethearts get their points across, hear one another, forgive, and move on.” Source: CARINA WOLFF, Bustle, 3/4/17.

The Ideal Diet for Gout Patients

If you or someone you know is diagnosed with gout, knowing the food choices that are bad or good for you is a big boost on your road to recovery from this disease. Your dietary choices are just as important as the treatment protocols and lifestyle changes that you follow. The Big No-Nos If You Have Gout: Eliminate these foods from your diet, as these are proven to be harmful for gout patients. 1) High-Fructose Corn Syrup - High-fructose corn syrup (HCFS) is found in processed items such as breakfast cereals, ice cream, sodas, fruit juices, and sports drinks. Removing this from your diet is crucial because it’s known to pave the way for the onset of gout. Gout attacks or flare-ups often target the joints, resulting in pain, inflammation, and even joint damage. But did you know that fructose-loaded food plays a role in this painful scenario? This is because high blood sugar levels, often an outcome of eating fructose-loaded food, are actually the root cause of this inflammation. High-fructose corn syrup affects your uric acid levels, known to be one of the main factors in gout. Gout occurs because of hyperuricemia, or high uric acid levels in your blood. Fructose prevents your kidneys from expelling uric acid, and this causes a buildup inside your body leading to higher uric acid levels. Uric acid happens to be one of the waste products and toxins that come from fructose when it’s metabolized by your body. Fructose is also connected to other devastating effects. Compared to other natural sugars, fructose is metabolized by your body differently as it goes straight into the liver. This sugar is converted more readily into fat, making it a major risk factor for diabetes, obesity and chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer. The ideal fructose consumption is 25 grams a day, but if you are at risk for diseases such as gout and diabetes, lower this to 15 grams a day. 2) High-Purine Food - It’s a common belief that eating food rich in purine can cause gout attacks. But what exactly is purine? It’s a substance naturally found in your body’s cells and in certain foods. When you eat something with purine, the body breaks it down, and uric acid is then formed. Some examples of high-purine foods include organ and red meats, shellfish, anchovies, herring, mushrooms, asparagus, cauliflower, kidney beans, lentils, spinach, peas, and whole wheat grains. 3) Processed Food - The prevalence of processed food in many Americans’ diets is a sad sight. Apart from high-fructose corn syrup, different preservatives and additives are added to processed food, making them nutritionally deficient and setting many Americans up for the risk of various diseases, with gout being one of them. 4) Alcohol - Alcoholic drinks are a strong risk factor for gout, since these increase your blood uric acid levels, and consequently, your risk of a gout attack. Drinking too much wine can also raise your insulin levels, considered to be a major risk factor for diabetes. 5) Soy Milk - Avoid drinking soy milk if you have gout. Research has shown that uric acid levels were elevated by about 10 percent if you drink soy milk. Absolute Must Foods in a Gout Diet: For gout patients, these foods can support in alleviating and recuperating from the sickness. The main rule of thumb for any healthy diet (not just for gout patients) is to eat whole, ideally organic, and locally grown food, and none of the processed and artificial items that are common today. Here are some of the best choices if you or someone you know has gout. 1) Organic Cherries and Strawberries - Cherries contain two powerful antioxidants called anthocyanins and bioflavonoids that slow down the enzymes Cyclo-oxygenase-1 and -2. This results in pain relief from gout and arthritis. Meanwhile, strawberries have antioxidants that combat free radicals and assist the body in eliminating uric acid. Just make sure to eat these berries in moderation, since they have fructose that can be harmful if eaten excessively. 2) Healthy Fats - Replace non-vegetable carbohydrates with sufficient amounts of healthy monounsaturated fats. Your best bets include coconuts and coconut oil, avocados, raw-grass fed butter, olives and olive oil, and raw nuts such as macadamias, walnuts, and pecans. This type of fat is reliable in regulating your insulin and leptin levels. Add animal-based omega-3 fats like krill oil to your diet as well. Omega-3s are extremely helpful for people who have gout or other types of arthritis, because the production of compounds called resolvins and protectins by the fat aids in controlling inflammation. Omega 3's known to fight inflammation-related disorders. 3) Therapeutic Herbs - Therapeutic herbs such as ginger, cinnamon, rosemary, turmeric, and ashwagandha work well in reducing the pain brought about by gout, because they are potent anti-inflammatories. 4) Potassium-Rich Food - This mineral and electrolyte provides support to gout patients, as potassium citrate, a type of potassium found in fruits and vegetables, neutralizes uric acid found in your urine and encourages your body to excrete this acid. Green vegetable juice, avocados, Lima beans, papayas, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, and broccoli are excellent sources of potassium. You can also consider taking the best potassium source for supplementation called potassium bicarbonate. 5) Pure Water - Pure water is the best drink for people with gout, since it assists your body with detoxification. This is a process that your blood, kidneys, and liver undergo wherein they flush out waste products and toxins (uric acid is an example) from your body. In effect, this lessens the amount of uric acid in your system, reducing your risk of uric acid build-up and gout. Source: mercola, 2/13/17.

Life Lessons From 100-Plus-Year-Olds

Age is just a number, and this is clearly evident in the lives of the three centenarians interviewed in a recent LifeHunters video. Each has their own story — Clifford Crozier, born in 1915; Emilia Tereza Harper, born in 1913; and John Millington Denerley, born in 1914. Positivity and strength are certainly apparent, along with a will to live and a continued interest in and curiosity about the world around them. Even as times changed, these people kept on living, adapting to and welcoming the new phases of their lives. It's this fortitude and emotional resilience that has likely played a major role in their longevity. 1) Emotional Resilience and Optimism Help You Stay Young at Heart Each of the centenarians look far younger than their chronological years, and they certainly don't act their age. Their positive attitudes are to credit for helping them stay young at heart, and research backs this up. In a study of 100 seniors (average age of 81), those who were exposed to implicit positive messages (words like creative, spry and fit) experienced gains in their physical strength. It's evidence that your mind truly does have power over your body, and all of the centenarians interviewed exemplify this. If you believe your body and mind will fail you as you age, it may very well follow suit. But the opposite also holds true, especially if your positive mindset is combined with the basic requirements for healthy living (like good sleep, fresh healthy food and staying active). The majority of centenarians report feeling about 20 years younger than their chronological age, and their mindset has a lot to do with this self-perception. Though Denerley is 102, for instance, he states that he feels like he's 69 or 79. There's a good chance, too, that if you were to evaluate his biological age, it would be closer to how he feels than to his actual chronological age. Experts agree that using acceptable biomarkers to determine biological age (such as blood pressure, muscle power, skeletal mass and fitness indicators) would be a better indicator of lifespan than chronological age. 2) Centenarians Eat Real Food None of the centenarians were self-proclaimed health nuts, but they do understand the value of eating real food. There was no other option when they were born, after all. As Harper noted, she grew up eating home-cooked food. What else was there? And more than that, her family grew their own food as well. Everything they ate was taken fresh from their garden, prepared and then put onto their plates. In 2017, the notion of eating home-grown, home-cooked food has become more of a novelty than a norm for many people, but reverting back to this traditional way of eating is the best route for health and longevity. The simple act of eating whole food is a theme common to centenarians (even if their diets aren't "perfect," like Crozier's apparent fondness for whiskey on occasion). Emma Morano, who, at 116, is the oldest person in the world, similarly shared with news outlets one of her dietary secrets: three eggs (two of them raw) and raw minced meat daily. Aside from what to eat, many centenarians also mention the importance of variations of intermittent fasting, i.e., not overeating, eating only once a day or, in Morano's case, having only a light dinner. In Okinawa, Japan, which has an unusually high concentration of people who live to 100 and beyond, hara hachi bu, or eating until you're only 80 percent full, is said to be an important factor in longevity. 3) Strong Relationships, Fond Memories and Living in the Moment Another common thread among the centenarian trio? Strong, positive relationships. Each spoke fondly of their marriages which, though their spouses had passed decades earlier, still offered them fond memories. Each also was able to look back on their life experiences and relationships with appreciation and gratitude. This, too, is backed up by science, with research showing that the types of social relationships someone enjoys — or doesn't — can actually put them at risk for premature death. In fact, researchers found a 50 percent increased likelihood for survival for participants with stronger social relationships. Harper, in particular, explained that she was able to live happily because she had a lifetime of memories to fall back on. It's important to remember this — that experiences tend to make us happier than possessions. The "newness" of possessions wears off, as does the joy they bring you, but experiences improve your sense of vitality and "being alive" both during the experience and when you reflect back on it. In addition, most centenarians, regardless of their health status, tend to have positive attitudes, optimism and a zest for life. The trio makes mention of living in the moment, living for the day and having no regrets. These are people who, despite having more than 100 years of "past," are living very much in the present, not dwelling on what they have lost but appreciating all the living they have done (and have yet to do). Also noteworthy, none of them has plans to go anytime soon. Each speaks of feeling strong and expects to continue living each day to its fullest. They are active — physically, mentally and socially. This, too, will only help them to stay young and healthy. 4) Helping Others Will Come Back to You a Hundred-Fold Harper also spoke of the importance of being kind and helping those around you. This is a life lesson worth learning, as doing good deeds helps others in need while providing a natural mood boost for you. Volunteering, for instance, can lower your risk of depression and anxiety and even boost your psychological well-being. Not only does it keep you active and on your feet, but there's a definite social aspect as well, both of which contribute to happiness and longevity. Helping others also gives you a sense of purpose and can even lead to a so-called "helper's high," which may occur because doing good releases feel-good hormones like oxytocin in your body while lowering levels of stress hormones like cortisol. Personality traits can also affect your longevity, which may also be playing a role in the centenarians interviewed. Having a sense of purpose and staying productive have been shown to promote longevity in The Longevity Project, a Stanford study spanning 80 years. Conscientiousness, specifically, was identified as a marker for longevity. Researchers believe, this is because conscientious behavior influences other behaviors. For example, conscientious people tend to make healthier choices, such as avoiding smoking and choosing work they enjoy and life partners they get along with — factors that can have a significant impact on their stress level and general contentment. Conscientious people also tend to be more productive, even past conventional retirement age, and tend to regard their work as having purpose. The Longevity Project dismisses the idea that hard work will kill you early. On the contrary, those who stay productive and work hard all their lives actually tend to be happier, healthier and more social compared to those who don't work as hard. Co-author and psychologist Howard S. Friedman, Ph.D., of the University of California, said in an interview with the American Psychological Association (APA): " … [O]ur studies suggest that it is a society with more conscientious and goal-oriented citizens, well-integrated into their communities, that is likely to be important to health and long life. These changes involve slow, step-by-step alterations that unfold across many years. But so does health. For example, connecting with and helping others is more important than obsessing over a rigorous exercise program." 5) Being a Lifelong Learner Is Linked to Longevity It's interesting that Denerley mentioned if he had one regret it would be not taking his studies seriously enough early on. He recommended getting an education early in life as a crucial point, and this, too, is correlated with a longer life. People with a bachelor's degree or higher tend to live about nine years longer than people who don't graduate from high school, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics report. This is likely, in part, because educated people may get better jobs, plan more for their future or lead healthier lifestyles. However, having a natural curiosity about life and a desire to keep learning likely also plays a role in the longevity connection. 6) There Is No Set Pattern for Why Some People Live to 100 and Beyond Despite advances in science that have linked everything from eating more vegetables to the age your mother gave birth to you (younger being better) with a longer life, no one can lay out a set plan that will guarantee you'll live to 100. And the fact remains that centenarians and super centenarians (those who live to 110 and beyond) are a motley crew. According to Israeli physician Nir Barzilai of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York: "There is no pattern. The usual recommendations for a healthy life — not smoking, not drinking, plenty of exercise, a well-balanced diet, keeping your weight down — they apply to us average people. But not to them. Centenarians are in a class of their own." Based on years of data from studying centenarians, Barzilai reported that when analyzing the data from his particular pool of centenarians, at age 70: • 37 percent were overweight • 8 percent were obese • 37 percent were smokers (for an average of 31 years) • 44 percent reported only moderate exercise • 20 percent never exercised at all Despite this, Barzalai is quick to emphasize you should not disregard the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices, explaining: "Today's changes in lifestyle do in fact contribute to whether someone dies at the age of 85 or before age 75. But in order to reach the age of 100, you need a special genetic make-up. These people age differently. Slower. They end up dying of the same diseases that we do — but 30 years later and usually quicker, without languishing for long periods." 7) 'Keep Right on to the End of the Road' What words of wisdom do centenarians have to offer to those with less life experience? Crozier says, "Be as independent as you can but don't be reluctant to ask for help when you think you need it." Harper has advice of her own, noting, "A good idea is to behave well to other people, show them respect and help them as much as you possibly can, and it will be repaid hundred-folds." Denerley, too, has a motto for life, which he credited to Scottish comedian Sir Harry Lauder. It sums up, perhaps best of all, the attitude that's gotten him so far in life, "Keep right on to the end of the road." Source: LifeHunters, 1/30/17.

The 10 worst things you can do at the gym

You did it. You are working out in the New Year. You threw on your favorite new tank top, laced up those tried-and-true sneakers, and impressively paused that Netflix series you were binge-watching to go to the gym for your regular sweat session. Then the girl next to you does the unthinkable—she answers her ringing phone and starts gabbing away. Your focus is totally thrown off, and now you know way too much about what she and her roommate got up to at the bar last night. We can all agree that gym faux pas are the worst. But which are the worst of the worst? We polled Well+Good readers on social media to find out, and you delivered big time—with hundreds of hilarious, shocking, and (in some cases) too-disgusting-to-mention responses. 1. Talking on your cellphone This is a huge no-no. Chatting for longer than 30 seconds—sometimes it’s an emergency, we know—should never happen at the gym. It throws everyone off around you and, frankly, if you’re not too out-of-breath to chat on the phone, you’re not working hard enough. 2. Eating anything but a gym-appropriate snack From spaghetti on the treadmill to a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich in between lifting sessions, some people out there try to cram in a full meal mid-workout. Do everyone a favor and keep the snackage to a power bar or smoothie. 3. Excessively Snapchatting during a class Another huge reader pet peeve? Excessive Snapchat use during class. Totally cool that you want to live-stream your fitness pursuits, but let’s keep it to a minimum shall we? (Unless you work for a wellness website and Snapchatting is part of your job description, of course…) 4. Dropping weights heavily We get it. You’re done with that set, but must you throw your weights down so loudly?! 5. Leaving a class early From leaving a spin class during the stretch or stomping out of yoga class during savasana (which we just don’t get TBH), it seems to be a common annoyance among most class attendees. Will that extra two minutes really make a difference? 6. Getting a little too comfortable in the locker room Between clipping nails and using a hair dryer in places that we don’t even want to mention, W+G readers have seen some things. Please, oh please, treat this like the public restroom that it is and not like your personal bathroom. We’re all for free-spirited ladies and gentlemen, but some things can be kept private. 7. Lurking behind another gym-goer If the room is packed and you’re just dying to get on a machine, we get it, but do you really have to stand directly behind and wait or—even worse—try to work into someone else’s five-minute set? One reader even had someone take her weights while she was using them! 8. Intense body odor The whole point of the gym is to sweat, so it’s totally understandable that not everyone will smell like roses. But, to cause actual pain to those around you is where we draw the line—shower before the gym if you have to! 9. Or worse—OD’ing on perfume Listen, we all sweat at the gym. Covering it up with the latest fruity scent from Michael Kors really isn’t going to help. In fact, it makes it much, much worse. And last—but certainly not least: 10. Showing off or hitting on people while you’re working out Sometimes the gym can be a great place to meet someone who shares common interests. And sometimes, you really need that guy or girl to let you get your sweat on in peace. Source: wellandgood.com, 1/10/17.

31 Time Savers To Start Using In 2017

If you're like most people, you'd like to find more time in your day to accomplish more. Although 98 percent of Americans value balance in their lives, only 35 percent make enough time for themselves each day. Americans often keep a frenetic pace, leading to high levels of stress. How can you create more time in your life when everyone is given the same 24 hours? How do some people seem to achieve more in the same 24 hours? Time is a valuable non-renewable commodity that is distributed evenly to everyone, but used differently. The choices you make each day determine the results you get at the end of the day. If you're constantly running through your day with little time to stop and enjoy the small moments with friends and family, it might be time to make a major change in the way you're doing things. How to Alter Your Perception of Time Although time is a constant, how you perceive the passage of time is not. When you're having fun it often seems to pass more quickly, but when you're bored it may feel like the seconds are ticking by at a snail's pace. Outside of your health, time is one of your most valuable possessions. Since you can't replace time lost, renew time that has past or live in the future, it's important to pay close attention to the time you have in the here and now, and use it productively. One of the areas of the brain responsible for emotion and memory is the amygdala. The more detailed the memory the longer the moment appears to last. This is one of the reasons why it can feel forever when you're stuck in traffic, but your memory of the event will be that it passed quickly, as you didn't lay down any new memory. The important idea is that if you are moving through your day, doing things without thinking, you're probably not as productive as you could be. Pay attention to what you're doing and learn something new while you're doing it. Sleep Also Affects Your Productivity It may feel counterintuitive but sleep will make you more productive, not to mention a healthier individual. There is demonstrable evidence that when you are sleep deprived your cognitive function will suffer. It also appears that cognitive recovery is more difficult when you aren't getting enough sleep each night, or when you're pulling an all-nighter. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to depression, weight gain, increased risk of diabetes and cancer and increased risk of accidents. Sleep is necessary to feel alert, be productive and creative, and for optimal body functioning. So, as you look through the following time savers to free up more time in your week, remember not to fill the time with more to-dos but to relax, sleep and learn something new instead. 5 Tricks To Declutter Your Life Multi-tasking, when your workspace and mind are cluttered makes it far more difficult to achieve your goals than when you are working in a clean space. The following tips can help you declutter your brain and surroundings, allowing your productivity to soar. 1. Clean Your Home and Desk. You don't need to be a neat freak; just spend 15 minutes a day straightening your desk at work or 15 minutes cleaning your home. You'll be surprised how much you can accomplish in 15 minutes. 2. Evaluate Your Current Productivity. Don't rationalize the time you weren't productive. Instead, ask yourself if you attack the issues or spend more time putting off the difficult challenges. Most people are productive approximately seven hours of time while awake. Make those hours count. 3. Write It Down. When your mind is cluttered with what you want to get done, you don't focus your whole mind on the task at hand. This reduces your productivity in the current moment, leads to feeling overwhelmed and reduces the amount of free time you might have. Declutter your mind by writing down what you need to accomplish, then forget it until it's time to get it done. 4. Declutter Your Closet. You likely have clothes in your closet you never wear. After pulling out your clothes, turn all the hangers around so they are backward. As you wear something, hang it back the right way. At the end of the season you'll find more clothes you didn't wear. Having less to choose from reduces the time it takes to get dressed and frees more space. 5. Remove Temptation. Remove what distracts you from the project at hand. If it's your phone, then lock it away until the job is done. Are you spending too much time on websites that waste your time, like Facebook or YouTube? Try an app to lock you out for a few hours at a time, such as StayFocused or FocusBooster. 3 Steps To Re-Evaluate the Cult of Busy In America, busy people appear to be more valuable than those who find time to sit and smell the roses. However, you need both busy and rest for your mind and body to work optimally. To regain your balance: 1. Invoke the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 Rule. Named after the Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, the rule essentially means that 80 percent of your results comes from 20 percent of your efforts. You'll likely wear 20 percent of your clothes 80 percent of the time, and 80 percent of your time is spent on 20 percent of your to-do list. Keep the important things at the top of the list where you'll spend 80 percent of your time. 2. Identify the Most Valuable Task. Much like the Pareto Principle, identify the most important task for the day and do it as early in the day as possible. There's an app for that — Wunderlist is a free computer application that allows you to make lists, prioritize them and even put in recurring tasks. 3. If It Takes Minutes, Do It Now. It takes longer to sort the mail to open later than it does to open the mail and take care of it immediately. If something takes two minutes, do it immediately and save the extra five minutes it takes to plan to do it later. 5 Tips to Simplify Your Mornings 1. Pack Your Lunch the Night Before. Whether for yourself or your children, pack lunches the night before and label with the correct person's name. Now it's just grab and go in the morning. 2. Place Matching Clothing Pieces Together. Getting ready for work in the morning can be challenging as you're getting yourself and the rest of your family dressed and ready. Put matching pieces together in your closet or drawer so it's easier to pull your clothes together. Alternatively, decide what to wear the night before. 3. Create Morning Routines for the Children. Write down a routine for the children and post it. When to get up, what needs to be completed and by when they should be finished. Expect them to stay on task without constant reminders. 4. Create Your Own Morning Routine. Cut the amount of time it takes to dress, eat breakfast and whatever else needs doing in the morning through careful planning the night before. Prepping everything in advance will allow you to breeze through your morning without stopping to make decisions. 5. Make Important Decisions in the Morning. When your willpower is strong, make decisions about work, food, exercise and relationships, and then stick with those decisions. Now you have more mental energy later in the day when you have a difficult decision to make. 5 Items To Automate, Automate, Automate! Technology allows you to automate a variety of tasks. Here are a few tasks that can either be automated or delegated: 1. Auto Bill Pay. Put as many bills on auto pay as you can. Your bank can help with this. 2. Grocery Shopping. Write out a grocery list based on pre-planned recipes. This reduces impulse spending and ensures you have the food needed to make the meals planned. Shop no more than once a week. Don't like to shop? Check if Instacart is available in your area for delivery from local grocery stores, or order from grocers that have online shopping and in-store pickup available. 3. Meals. Plan your meals for the week. This reduces the number of times you're tempted to order out. If you don't like cooking, consider meal services in your area that cook for the week and bring the food to your home. Cook more food in less time using slow cookers and incorporating fermented foods. 4. Housecleaning. Don't like housekeeping? Consider using Handy, an app for hiring a house cleaner, or go directly to a local house cleaner to get the job done. 5. Clothes. Does laundry drive you nuts? Cleanly, Rinse or FlyCleaners are services that pick up your laundry at your home, clean it and deliver it back to your doorstep. 6 Ways To Value Your Time 1. Don't Be Available All the Time. In an age of digital communication and immediate feedback, you may be tempted to have your phone with you at all times. However, constantly checking email, text messages and instant messages reduces your productivity. Check it all at once, only three times a day. 2. Don't Walk Empty Handed. When you walk from room to room at home, pick up and put things away. It takes less time, less effort and results in a cleaner space. 3. Schedule Your Sleep Hours. If you don't schedule sleep, you'll likely have unstructured sleep hours. Your body gets used to bedtime and time to wake in the morning, making you more productive and your body healthier and well rested. 4. Become Really Good at What You Do. The better you are the less time it takes to complete a task. This means practicing that task each day, without exception. 5. Learn to Say No. You may want to make everyone happy, but in the end, when you say "yes" to everyone else, you've said "no" to yourself. 6. Use Your Down Time. Brushing your teeth, showering, commuting to work, cooking, waiting for the children at sports or any other activity during which your brain is free but your body isn't, consider listening to podcasts, books on tape or an audio conference. Waterproof Bluetooth speakers work in the bathroom, and a waterproof headset works in the pool. 3 Productivity Hacks 1. Practice Pomodoro. This is a productivity technique where you spend 30 minutes focused and concentrated on one task and one task only. The only reason you should stop what you're doing is if the building is on fire. Try Strict Workflow app for your computer that helps block distracting websites and is built loosely on the Pomodoro productivity strategy. 2. Prioritize Your To-Do List. Start your day with the most important task and work your way down the list in order of priority. You'll have more energy and focus for your top priorities and likely will be able to finish more of the smaller tasks at the end of the day. 3. Relaxation. Just as your body and mind need sleep, they also need rest. Practice meditation or deep breathing exercises to help clear your mind. You'll gain clarity and enjoy more creativity. 4 Ways to Cut Task Time 1. Fold the End of the Tape. When you're done with any type of tape, fold the end so it's easier and faster to use the next time. 2. Folding Clothes. Fold your T-shirts and polo shirts in seconds. Pin socks together when you take them off and they won't get lost in the laundry. Do one load of laundry per day: Put it in the wash in the morning, into the dryer in the evening and fold it before bed. It becomes routine, goes quickly and you'll always have clean clothes. 3. Set Aside Home Improvement Time. When you have a project at home, set aside 30 minutes each day to complete the task. It goes quickly. Don't skip a day, however, since it's difficult to make up the time. 4. Use a Smart Filing System. Whether at home or work, have a system that has active tasks or files and an archive of completed projects. Keep all files handy for future reference, such as warranties on appliances, repair work on the car, receipts for purchases. If you have a file already created, you just have to put in the document and you're done. **Now go and make 2017 great!! Source: mercola, 12/20/16

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do.

Mental strength isn't often reflected in what you do. It's usually seen in what you don't do. In her book "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," Amy Morin writes that developing mental strength is a "three-pronged approach." It's about controlling your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. Following are 13 things that mentally strong people do not do, Morin says. 1. They don't waste time feeling sorry for themselves. Instead, they express gratitude. "Feeling sorry for yourself is self-destructive," Morin writes. "Indulging in self-pity hinders living a full life." It wastes time, creates negative emotions, and hurts your relationships. The key is to "affirm the good in the world, and you will begin to appreciate what you have," she writes. The goal is to swap self-pity with gratitude. 2. They don't give away their power. People give away their power when they lack physical and emotional boundaries. You need to stand up for yourself and draw the line when necessary. If other people are in control of your actions, they define your success and self-worth. It's important that you keep track of your goals and work toward them. Morin uses Oprah Winfrey as an example of someone with a strong grip on their power. Winfrey grew up dealing with poverty and sexual abuse, but "she chose to define who she was going to be in life by not giving away her power." 3. They don't shy away from change. Rather, they embrace the inevitable. There are five stages of change: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Following through with each of the five steps is crucial. Making changes can be frightening, but shying away from them prevents growth. "The longer you wait, the harder it gets," she says. "Other people will outgrow you." 4. They don't focus on things they can't control. Instead, they focus on what they can do. "It feels so safe to have everything under control, but thinking we have the power to always pull the strings can become problematic," Morin writes. Trying to be in control of everything is likely a response to anxiety. "Rather than focusing on managing your anxiety, you try controlling your environment," she says. Shifting your focus off the things you can't control can create increased happiness, less stress, better relationships, new opportunities, and more success. 5. They don't worry about pleasing everyone. Indeed, they're able to say "no." Often we judge ourselves by considering what other people think of us, which is the opposite of mental toughness. Morin lists four facts about constantly trying to be a people-pleaser: It's a waste of time; people-pleasers are easily manipulated; it's OK for others to feel angry or disappointed; and you can't please everyone. Dropping your people-pleasing mindset will make you stronger and more self-confident. 6. They don't fear taking calculated risks. Instead, they prepare for what's ahead. People are often afraid to take risks, whether it's financial, physical, emotional, social, or business-related. But it comes down to knowledge. " A lack of knowledge about how to calculate risk leads to increased fear," Morin writes. To better analyze a risk, ask yourself the following questions. —What are the potential costs? —What are the potential benefits? —How will this help me achieve my goal? —What are the alternatives? —How good would it be if the best-case scenario came true? —What is the worst thing that could happen, and how could I reduce the risk it will occur? —How bad would it be if the worst-case scenario did come true? —How much will this decision matter in five years? 7. They don't dwell on the past. But they do take time to reflect and learn from the past. The past is in the past. There's no way to change what happened, and "dwelling can be self-destructive, preventing you from enjoying the present and planning for the future," Morin writes. It doesn't solve anything, and can lead to depression, she writes. There can be a benefit to thinking about the past, though. Reflecting on the lessons learned, considering the facts rather than the emotions, and looking at a situation from a new perspective can be helpful, she says. 8. They don't make the same mistakes over and over. Instead, they accept responsibility and change their behavior. Reflecting can ensure you don't repeat your mistakes. It's important to study what went wrong, what you could have done better, and how to do it differently next time. Mentally strong people accept responsibility for the mistake and create a thoughtful, written plan to avoid making the same mistake in the future. 9. They don't resent other people's success. They celebrate others' success. Resentment is like anger that remains hidden and bottled up. Focusing on another person's success will not pave the way to your own, since it distracts you from your path. Even if you become successful, you may never be content if you're always focusing on others. You may also overlook your talents and abandon your values and relationships. 10. They don't give up after the first failure. Success isn't immediate, and failure is almost always an obstacle you will have to overcome. "Take, for example, Theodor Giesel — also known as Dr. Seuss — whose first book was rejected by more than 20 publishers." Dr. Seuss is now a household name. Thinking that failure is unacceptable or that it means you aren't good enough does not reflect mental strength. In fact, "bouncing back after failure will make you stronger," Morin writes. 11. They don't fear alone time. Instead, they make time for solitude. "Creating time to be alone with your thoughts can be a powerful experience, instrumental in helping you reach your goals." Becoming mentally strong "requires you to take time out from the busyness of daily life to focus on growth." Here are some of the benefits of solitude Morin lists in her book: —Solitude at the office can increase productivity. —Alone time may increase your empathy. —Spending time alone sparks creativity. —Solitary skills are good for mental health. —Solitude offers restoration. 12. They don't feel the world owes them anything. They do focus on their efforts. It's easy to get angry at the world for your failures or lack of success, but the truth is no one is entitled to anything. It must be earned. "Life isn't meant to be fair," Morin says. If some people experience more happiness or success than others, "that's life — but it doesn't mean you're owed anything if you were dealt a bad hand." The key is to focus on your efforts, accept criticism, acknowledge your flaws, and don't keep score. Comparing yourself to others will only set you up for disappointment if you don't receive what you think you're owed. 13. They don't expect immediate results. They do take small steps toward the goal. "A willingness to develop realistic expectations and an understanding that success doesn't happen overnight is necessary if you want to reach your full potential." Mentally weak people are often impatient. They overestimate their abilities and underestimate how long change takes, she says, so they expect immediate results. It's important to "keep your eyes on the prize" and relentlessly work toward your long-term goals. There will be failures along the way, but if you measure your progress and look at the big picture, success will become attainable. Source: Amy Morin, The Business Insider, 11/30/16.