Sleep Myths

In their summer 2018 Health Connections newsletter Regence published three sleep myths according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the National Sleep Foundation.  Here are the major points gleamed from this article.

MYTH: You can get by on very little sleep.

FACT: Scraping by on very little sleep not only results in irritability, reduced productivity can result in you being more accident prone, but it also presents a serious health risk. Abbreviated sleep is linked to depression, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.  It is suggested that adults receive at least seven hours of sleep per night

MYTH:  Snoring can be annoying, but it is not a health concern. 

FACT:  Snoring can be harmless, but it can also suggest a case of Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  A person with this condition will stop breathing several times a night and this can result in heart disease.  CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) therapy can help.


MYTH: When you wake up and cannot go back to sleep, it is best to just lie there until you can.

FACT: Experts suggest that if you do not go to sleep in 15 minutes, it is better to get up, move to another room and engage in a relaxing pursuit. When you feel sleepy, go back to bed.  If you wake up often during the night and have trouble going back to sleep, especially combined with feeling befuddled the next day you may have insomnia and should discuss the matter with your doctor.

Food Advertising

Part of our assignment this week is to observe the effects of food advertising.  How do they make the food desirable?  Who is their target audience?  Is the product associated with a specific issue: weight loss, promise for a better future, good health, a memory, etc.  Is there a link between the advertisement and the magazine? 

This is the ad I chose out of the Food Network magazine: 

Instead of just showing the bowl in the box, they pull you into the ad by placing the product in a kitchen setting, complete with orange juice so the consumer will associate it with a meal at home. The targeting audience is the working consumer based on the Hit Your Mid-Morning Stride Not the Mid-Morning Wall slogan.  They are also targeting health conscience consumers; JIMMY DEAN BOWLS ARE PACKED WITH HEARTY PROTEIN AND PREMIUM INGREDIENTS. Including red potatoes, read eggs and our signature seasoned sausage. 

I would have purchased this product without the advertising I listed above as it is hard for me to find breakfast items with enough protein even though they are not selling it for breakfast.   

Our local newspaper, The Yakima Herald Republic, recently posted a book lovers list.  Since many people go on vacations and might need reading material I wanted to share some of the suggested titles and authors.  For a complete list of the books, the paper published the list on May 20, 2018.

The ratings and descriptions are compliments of Goodreads.  Everyone should find something they are interested in here.  Happy Reading!

May Is Healthy Vision Month — Make Vision a Focus!

Many Americans see the doctor every year for a physical. Lots of us also schedule regular visits to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned. But what about our eyes? The fact is, more than 23 million American adults have never had an eye exam.

Every Healthy Vision Month, the National Eye Institute (NEI) shares tips and resources to encourage people to take care of their vision — and inspire health professionals to help make eye health a priority.
Read on to learn just a few ways to keep your eyes healthy.

• Get an eye exam
  If your eyes feel healthy, it’s easy to assume they are healthy. But getting an eye exam is the only way to be sure. Many serious eye diseases don’t have any warning signs — so you could have an eye problem and not know it. Getting an eye exam is the single best way to stay on top of your eye health!
• Know your family’s eye health history
  Talking to your family members about their eye health can help you find out if you’re at higher risk for eye disease. If you learn that eye diseases run in your family, talk with your eye doctor.
• Give your eyes a rest
  If you spend a lot of time at the computer, you may sometimes forget to blink — and that can tire out your eyes. To reduce eyestrain, try the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look away from your work and focus about 20 feet in front of you for 20 seconds.
• Eat eye-healthy foods
  A diet rich in a variety of fruits and vegetables — especially dark leafy greens, like spinach or kale — is important for keeping your eyes healthy. Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids — like salmon, tuna, and halibut — can also help protect your vision.
• Wear sunglasses (even on cloudy days!)
  Sunglasses can protect your eyes from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays — and help keep your eyes healthy and your vision sharp. When shopping for shades, look for a pair that blocks out at least 99% of both UVA and UVB radiation.

From the moment you wake up until you go to bed at night, your eyes are working to bring you the world — so take steps to keep them healthy. To learn more about Healthy Vision Month and how to take care of your eyes, check out the Healthy Vision Month website.

Did you know? 15 May 2018

HOW TO BE A HEALTH DETECTIVE

This advice is taken from the AARP May 2018 Health Bulletin and is part of the cover story:  Fads, Fails and Fixes.

Are you aware that over 90,000 dietary supplements and health products are pitched to consumers each year?  Leigh Purvis at the AARP Public Policy Institute says that consumers really have to do their own due diligence to assess if product claims are believable.  Some of the 90,000 product claims are safe and effective and many are not.  Due diligence includes asking a doctor before using, verifying supplement claims with a government source like the National Institute of Health and checking online for impartial advice from reputable medical centers and health associations.  Also, watch out for these red flags: 

CONSPIRACY THEORIES - Marketers who try to make you doubt the intentions of doctors or researchers with words like "lies", "Big Pharma" or "what doctors don't want you to know" are probably hyping something that's unproven or unreliable. 

MIRACULOUS CLAIMS - "Supplements are not permitted by law to  claim to treat or prevent disease," says Richard Cleland with the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.  What is allowed are health maintenance claims like "supports the immune system." These claims are unverified and unregulated. 

ANCIENT CHINESE SECRETS - Products are often hyped with phrases like "time-proven cures" or "ancient remedies" to appeal to consumers drawn to natural health approaches.

PRODUCT ENDORSEMENTS - You have no way of knowing whether they were paid for their recommendation or not. 

AMAZING FINDINGS -Don't trust research as presented in infomercials or on product websites.  Companies may falsify results, cherry-pick data or base claims on a small, poorly designed experiment.

I exercised for the first time in months yesterday and this time I am trying to be smarter about the intensity and duration I begin with.  Of course, I want to be able to walk the four miles I was doing when I had to stop and I want to do it today! 

So far - OK I admit it has only been two days - I am doing good.  Yesterday I walked for 15 minutes and today I walked for 30 minutes.  Tomorrow I begin physical therapy on my shoulder (I broke my clavicle on March 1, 2018 which required a plate, screws and a couple of bone grafts. 

The plate, screws and bone grafts are permanent.  I also have a small partial tear of the rotator cuff and a biceps tendon strain that my orthopedic surgeon explains can be resolved with therapy.  I really hope that is the case because I have two complete rotator cuff tears in my other shoulder that can't be helped with therapy. 

More on my exercise progress later.......

Did You Know? 12 May 2018

Did you know that Peppermint Oil is effective in treating irritable bowel syndrome?  Dr. Rosario Ligresti, M.D. explains that menthol, the oils main constituent, has a very relaxing effect on the GI tract.  Dr. Ligresti is the Director of the Pancreas Center at the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. 

In the May 2018 AARP Bulletin an article on Health FADS, FAILS and FIXES addressed several issues impacting health today.  The article addressed heart, stomach, skin and pain concerns.

In this post I will share what the article had to say about the heart for those of you who do not get the bulletin. 

FAD - Coconut Oil While some "experts" swear by it Dr. Steven E. Nissen a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation cautions that there are no known benefits of coconut oil. In fact the oil is 82 percent saturated fat - 30 percent more than butter! The American Heart Association says to avoid coconut oil. 

Included in the list of FAILS for a stronger heart are: Antioxidant supplements, High fiber junk foods, fish oil tablets and home blood-pressure monitors.  In the interest in keeping this post as short as possible I will just state the main reason for each item. 

Antioxidant Supplements: By eating fresh fruits and vegetables you can slash your risk of a heart attack by 30 percent however in pill form no heart benefits exist.

High Fiber Junk Food:  While fiber does help control cholesterol and lower diabetes risk when it is packed into snack bars and other sweets the sugar does more damage than the fiber does good. Pay attention to the sugar levels when deciding which food to buy. 

Fish Oil Tablets:These supplements do not lower heart attack risks at all according to a large Oxford University study involving over 77,000 people.  Because these supplements are not regulated you have no idea what you are actually getting. 

Home Blood-Pressure Monitors: According to a University of Alberta study in 2017 70% of home devices were off by at least 5 points.  Take your home monitor to a doctor's appointment and compare the results once a year. You might just need a bigger cuff. 

FIXES: A small handful of nuts can help cut heart attack risk by 30 percent. A Spanish study saw these results when people eating an already healthy Mediterranean-style diet added a small handful of nuts a day.Be careful with the amount because nuts are high in calories and too many can lead to weight gain.

SLOW-FAST WORKOUTS: AARP reported that couch potatoes in their 50's rebuilt heart strength and function with a doable exercise routine made up mostly of walking.  A UT Southwestern medical study looks like this:

1-2 days: a 30-minute moderate intensity exercise like a brisk walk
1 day: 60-minute session of the same
1 day: 30 minutes of interval training like several four-minute bursts of high-speed walking broken up by a slower pace to recover
1-2 days: strength training sessions using weights or exercise machines

My Good Life jar until I have my writing hand out of the sling. 

• Food - eat only four meals this week that contain processed food
• Fun - meet with our travel agent to discuss the 2020 world cruise
• Beauty - get my hair cut this week
• Sleep - go to bed when I am tired instead of waiting for a time
• Love - buy something special for Toby's 15th birthday
• Growth - read the book Joshua gave us 
• Connection - call Julie in Spokane and visit

Challenge: remove one step from the jar each day this week (May 7 - 14) and notice the impact it has had on your overall mood and well-being.  

The Beginning

It is never to late to learn, right?  At 63 I am embarking on a new quest to reclaim my health.  I was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2015 and since that time my life has not been my own.  Years of treatments, surgeries, hospitalization, doctors visits and medications have had control and I want it back!

I have just begun a one-year program at Integrative Nutrition and as part of our first learning module we have been encouraged to write in a journal, create a blog, keeps lists and other options the purpose of which is to summarize our thought process as we work our way through the program.  We were also asked to write our intention statement complete with a time frame.

I decided to create this blog to track my thoughts, successes and failures as I work though the program.  It is much easier for me to type than to write so this should work fine.

"I will become healthy enough to get off of 90% of my current medications by the end of the program in order to get control of my life back."