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January 2010 Newsletter From Dr. Jared Hanson ND, LAc

Happy New Year! Basic Steps for Better Health

Leading a healthy lifestyle pays off. And it doesn’t have much to do with taking the latest fad vitamin or eating the next superfruit from the Amazon. Simple lifestyle changes will go much further in reducing your chances of developing a chronic or life-threatening disease and help you live a longer, happier life.

The major killers in this country, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Alzheimer’s, can all be considered partly or completely diseases of lifestyle. A study in Britain following 11,000 health-conscious people found that they had half the mortality rates of the general population.

Rather than think of these as resolutions for the new year or new decade, think of the following suggestions as the foundation of good health for the rest of your life.

1. Sleep. You need 8 hours of sleep. Many people think they do fine on less, sometimes much less, but in fact they simply don’t realize what they’re missing. Research has shown that people who regularly don’t get enough sleep experience significant cognitive defects without their awareness. Chronic sleep deprivation has been associated with depression, anxiety, weight gain, fatigue (no surprise there), gastroesophageal reflux, sleep apnea and poor immune function.

Getting enough sleep is a primary step in restoring your body’s ability to adapt to stress. As such, making 8 hours of sleep a priority will decrease both the mental and physiological experience of stress. Getting to sleep and waking up at the same time every day will maximize this effect.

2. Water. It is often said that water is the number one nutritional deficiency in this country. The rule of thumb here is to take your weight in pounds, divide that number in half and drink that many ounces of pure water a day. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you should be drinking 75 ounces of water per day. And it should be water, not just any fluid. One study found that those who drank more than 5 glasses of water per day cut their heart attack risk in half, while those who drank more than 5 glasses of fluid other than water per day were at an increased risk for heart attack (a whopping 147% increase for the women in the study).

Proper hydration can also lower your blood pressure, which is ironic as the first drug given to people with hypertension is a “water pill” or diuretic which actually reduces fluids. Water is an important therapy for those with migraine headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome, peptic ulcers and dyspepsia, and it has been shown to reduce allergies and asthma attacks. In fact, exercise-induced asthma has been described as “dehydration asthma”, an indication that the athlete is not properly hydrated.

3. Exercise. Regular exercise reduces your risk of heart disease, some cancers, and obesity. Exercise lowers blood pressure and lowers blood sugar in diabetics. Aerobic exercise is a pillar of mental health. In fact, exercise is as effective as pharmaceutical drugs in many forms of anxiety and depression. Regular exercise has also been shown to benefit patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, end-stage renal disease, Parkinson’s and many different types of chronic pain. In fact, it may be difficult to find a condition that exercise does not benefit.

Shoot for at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise (not including warm-up and cool-down) at least every other day. Studies have shown that aerobic exercise less than 3 times a week doesn’t have significant health benefits. Strength and flexibility training are also important.

4. Fiber. The average American eats from 5 to 15 grams of fiber per day, depending on your source. This is far too low. At least, 35 - 50 grams per day is necessary. Obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, some forms of cancer, gallstones and many gastrointestinal diseases are all related to poor fiber intake. It is worth noting that fiber is generally what gets processed out in “processed foods”. Foods high in fiber – vegetables, fruit, legumes and whole grains – all happen to be quite good for you and high in other important nutrients as well. The key to meeting these fiber goals is not taking a fiber supplement, instead eat a diet of whole plant foods. Eat your fruits and veggies.

5. Supplements. I’ve discussed supplements before in previous newsletters, and the four I recommend for general health – a multivitamin, probiotics, fish oil and vitamin D – each represent an important nutrient(s) that are both vitally important for good health, and difficult to ensure you are getting in adequate amounts from food.

6. Relax. Stress is strongly linked to our most common and our most deadly health problems. This includes the big killers cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, as well as chronic diseases such as depression, asthma, autoimmune diseases, and rheumatoid arthritis. Even everyday challenges such as headaches and the common cold are significantly related to stress.

Stress reduction is as important to a long, healthy life as proper diet and exercise. While we cannot always change the things that are causing us stress we can improve our reaction to them and we can take time to relax. Establish a daily relaxation practice. This can be as simple as five minutes of deep-breathing.