June 29, 2004 [Volume 5, Issue 14]

To Your Health is brought to you by:

• Falling for Chiropractic
• May I Have Your Attention, Please?
• Be Good to Your Heart With a Healthy Start

Falling for Chiropractic The elderly have bones that are weaker and more prone to breaking, and falls are the sixth leading cause of death among the elderly population. A team of Australian researchers examined common causes of falls, as well as possible interventions, including the influence of a healthy spine.

The most common fall-related injuries are femur and neck fractures, and soft-tissue injuries. Recent studies have shown links from the degenerative spine to balance disturbances, the neck and verticality. Researchers are seeking to determine whether the cervical spine is associated with balance that may be slightly "off" when a fall occurs.

Conclusion: Researchers believe simple activities may serve as tests of patient functional performance. These include sitting, standing, reaching, leaning over, looking over the shoulder, turning in a complete circle and stepping, and a simple gauge of leaving a chair, walking 3 meters, and returning to the chair.

To maintain a healthy spine and learn how to maintain your back, posture and equilibrium, visit your doctor of chiropractic. He or she can advise you on the best ways to prevent yourself from losing your balance - and possibly more.

To learn more about ways to stay healthy into the golden years, go to www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/senior.

Reference: Walsh JM, Polus BI, Webb MN. The role of the cervical spine in balance and risk of falling in the elderly. Chiropractic Journal of Australia March 2004;34(1):19-22.

It's been a rough morning: You've been chasing your active toddler around for hours, and it's not even noon! You'd like to pop in a video so you can grab a few minutes of rest; after all, what's the harm if your child watches a little television? More than you might think, according to a new study.

Recent research shows that the more time young children spend watching television, the more likely they are to develop attention problems by age 7. Researchers studied two groups of children - ages 1 and 3. On average, the children viewed 2.2 and 3.6 hours of television each day, respectively (although some watched as many as 12 or more hours). Ten percent of those same children had developed attention-related problems by the age of 7.

The researchers concluded that early childhood television viewing may be associated with inattention later on, and speculated that the risk increases with every additional hour of television watched; however, they add that additional research is still needed on the subject to assess the full impact of TV on childhood development.

Before reaching for the remote, try occupying your children through more productive means, such as books, blocks or puzzles. These activities will help build their critical-thinking skills, and they may reduce the risk of developing behavioral problems down the line.

For more information on pediatric health, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/pediatrics.

Reference:Dimitri AC, Zimmerman FJ, DiGiuseppe DL, McCarty CA. Early television exposure and subsequent attentional problems in children. Pediatrics 2004;113(4):708-13.

You've heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but if it consists of fast food like egg-and-sausage muffin sandwiches and hash browns, you should reconsider your food choices.

Researchers analyzed the blood of nine healthy adults who each consumed a breakfast consisting of an egg muffin, sausage muffin and two hash browns - a meal consisting of 910 calories, 81 grams of carbohydrates, 51 grams of fat and 32 grams of protein. The meal increased inflammatory components in the bloodstream, which stayed elevated for up to four hours.

"People who experience repeated short-lived bouts of inflammation resulting from many such unhealthy meals can end up with blood vessels in a chronic state of inflammation, a primary factor in the development of atherosclerosis," commented Ahmad Alijada, PhD, one of the researchers. Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) is one of the leading causes of heart attack and stroke.

While it's true that a healthy breakfast can jump start your day, your food choices make all the difference. Give your heart a break! Replace fast food with fresh fruit and low-fat yogurt, a bran muffin, or whole-grain cereal or toast.

For more information on nutrition, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/nutrition.

References

Aljada A, Mohanty P, Ghanim H, Abdo T, et al. Increase in intranuclear nuclear factor kB and decrease in inhibitor kB in mononuclear cells after a mixed meal: evidence for a proinflammatory effect. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2004;79(4):682-90.

Warner, J. Food breakfast triggers inflammation. www.webmd.com. April 19, 2004.

This issue features a number of articles you will want to share with your family, friends and co-workers. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to them via e-mail. If you have received this e-mail newsletter from someone else, you may subscribe free of charge and begin receiving your own copy by going to: www.chiroweb.com/newsletter/TYH/subscribe.php

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