Symptoms appear slowly as the autumn begins, and build up as the winter progresses. These symptoms include:

• Low energy

• Tiredness
• Trouble getting up in the morning
• Difficulty concentrating
• Increased appetite, particularly for carbohydrates
• Increased weight gain
• Increased feelings of depression
• Decreased sex drive

The more darkness the brain’s pineal gland receives, the more the hormone melatonin is produced. Melatonin is responsible for helping regulate the body’s hormones and maintaining its circadian rhythm. It particularly affects hormones produced by the pituitary gland, which is the main regulator of the entire endocrine system, including the thyroid gland, the gland responsible for producing the energy regulating hormones cortisol and adrenaline.

Melatonin is called the “sleep hormone,” as the pineal gland produces it when it gets dark to lower our body temperature and induce us to sleep, but as soon as sunlight hits our eyes in the morning the melatonin switch is turned off and is replaced by a surge in serotonin, which wakes us up and provides us with feelings of happiness and calm.

Though SAD can mimic the symptoms of depression, they are two different things. The symptoms of depression usually include insomnia and decreased appetite, while the opposite is the case in those with SAD. SAD also tends to occur primarily in the autumn and winter, whereas depression is experienced year-round.

If you have SAD, there are a number of treatments that can help ease your symptoms. These include light therapy, medication and/or timed melatonin supplementation.

Light therapy involves regular sessions of sitting before a bright white “full-spectrum” lightbox from 30 to 60 minutes. Studies have shown that 92 percent of those suffering from SAD experienced relief from their symptoms after this therapy.

The administration of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has also proved to be helpful to some, with an effectiveness rate of 67 percent.

Supplementation with melatonin, administered at particular times of day, has also been shown to be effective in some cases, as it re-synchronizes the person’s circadian rhythms, affecting the timely release of the body’s other metabolic hormones.

So don’t suffer in silence! Consult with your health care provider if you feel you have symptoms of SAD, as effective treatment is easily available.

The term “cold laser” refers to the specific wavelength of light used, which is usually in the 630 nm to 980 nm ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum. This wavelength allows for the least energy to be absorbed by surface tissue (meaning that the patient does not experience any sensation of heat or warming), while allowing the healing properties of the light to facilitate wound and tissue healing. Low-level laser therapy has been shown to reduce inflammation and accelerate the body’s own healing mechanisms. When cells are exposed to laser light, cell functions are stimulated, improving immune system function, increasing collagen synthesis and enhancing tissue regeneration.

In chiropractic practice, cold laser therapy has been show to be effective in treating inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and bursitis. The use of laser therapy also accelerates the healing of connective tissue disorders such as sprains, strains and tendonitis, and has proven effective in reducing or managing chronic or acute pain in the neck, thoracic regions or lower back. Lasers have also been used to effectively treat muscle injuries or bruises, and neurological injuries such as herniated or ruptured discs. Chiropractors also commonly use laser therapy to increase the patient’s range of motion, and to build or increase the strength of damaged muscle tissue. In many cases the use of cold laser therapy has cut rehabilitation time following an injury in half.

Obvious benefits of cold laser therapy over drugs or surgery are that it is safe, pain- and drug- free, non-invasive, and has no known side effects. The results are quickly perceived by patients, and laser therapy can be used immediately after an injury. Cold laser therapy has also been studied in over 3000 clinical trials, with proven clinical results. If you are interested in finding out whether it could be of benefit to treat your conditions, consult with your chiropractor.

Resources:

• http://www.acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=4124
• http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=41529

Commonly observed causes of shoulder pain include:

• Bursitis or tendinitis of the rotator cuff (inflammation of the shoulder joint, also called impingement syndrome, since the inflammation impinges on the ability of the shoulder to move fully)
• Frozen shoulder (restriction of joint movement by the shoulder capsule, also known as adhesive capsulitis)
• Rotator cuff tear (tearing of the shoulder tendons away from the bone). The rotator cuff refers to the group of four muscles and tendons that are responsible for moving the shoulder joint
• Shoulder dislocation and shoulder instability (repeated dislocation, which may follow the initial occurrence as a result of the weakening and tearing of shoulder ligaments)
• Synovitis (inflammation of the synovium that protects joint bones from rubbing together)
• Calcific tendinitis (calcium deposits in the shoulder tendons)
• Referred pain from the neck or elsewhere in the body
• Arthritis (wearing away of shoulder cartilage)
• Fractures

The precise nature of chiropractic treatment for shoulder pain depends on which of the above diagnoses is made by your practitioner, but will likely include some degree of manipulation to ensure correct spinal alignment (especially in the neck) and improved shoulder mobility and function. Additional measures such as heat and ice packs, stretching and strengthening exercises, anti-inflammatory medication, rest and cortisone injections may also be discussed. Furthermore, your chiropractor will want to look at your overall health, diet and lifestyle to see if any improvements can be made to assist with your healing process.  Chiropractors are specialist health care professionals who deal with shoulder pain on a daily basis.

Signs that you should your chiropractor about your shoulder include the following:

• Pain when carrying objects
• Shoulder pain at night and when resting
• Being unable to raise your arm
• Pain that persists beyond a few days and is unimproved by rest and painkillers
• Warmth, redness and/or swelling of the shoulder and/or fever, which may indicate infection
• Bruising around the shoulder area

How can something made just for your feet accomplish all this?

Our feet form the foundation of our entire body. They provide support for walking, standing, running, jumping, and reaching. In addition, your feet help protect your bones, spine and tissues from stress while moving around. It seems quite logical that your feet can perform these tasks better when their bones, muscles, and arches are in their proper, stable positions. For example, neck pain could be the result of a spinal misalignment that is caused by an imbalance in your feet. Your body’s joints and muscles work most efficiently when they are in balance, and balanced feet provide the foundational balance needed to support many of our daily activities.

Your feet contain three arches that support the weight of your entire body. If one arch is compromised, the other arches try to compensate. This results in additional stress, leading to pain, discomfort, and further compromise. Another common foot problem is flattening of the arches, which is known as pronation, which leads to rotation of the legs.

Spinal pelvic stabilizers balance the foundation of the pelvis and spine and help address structural problems of the feet. If they are properly fitted they can control pronation and supination. In this way they reduce unnatural stress and abnormal forces, and promote healthy functional and structural relationships between your feet and the rest of your body.

These devices also provide improved shock absorption. This reduces repetitive stress on your muscles and joints, allows better function, and reduces arthritic symptoms as well.

Pelvic stabilizers are a cost effective and long-term intervention for many kinds of foot and posture problems. They are worn inside your shoes, and they guide your feet into a more normal pattern as they are used for moving around.

Your chiropractor will use impression images of your feet to create custom-made flexible spinal pelvic stabilizers for your feet and your feet alone. You may wish to ask your chiropractor about the flexibility of the stabilizers that will be created for you. Some technologies use more rigid materials to force the foot into a supposedly ideal position, while most people prefer some flexibility for comfort, controlled support, and better movement from the feet on up through the body.

• Type 2 diabetes is a disease most commonly caused by obesity. Though it used to develop primarily in adults, it is now quite common in children as well, with the recent increase in the rate of childhood obesity. Blood sugar levels become elevated due to the insulin resistance caused by obesity and greatly increase the risk of developing diabetes.
• Heart disease can develop as a result of fatty deposits building up in the arteries, and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) is 10 times more common among the obese than in the population with normal body weight. Fat tissue also requires blood to survive, so more blood vessels are created, putting greater strain on the circulatory system, increasing blood pressure and making the heart work harder to circulate that extra blood.
• Those who are obese have an increased risk of cancer, especially cancer of the colon, breast, prostate, gallbladder and uterus.
• Obesity adversely affects both the metabolism and endocrine system, often resulting in metabolic syndrome, the fastest-growing obesity-related health problem. This refers to a group of risk factors that increase your risk of more serious diseases, such as coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Symptoms include excess weight particularly located around the middle of the body, insulin resistance, low HDL (“good”) cholesterol and high triglycerides.
• Women who are obese can suffer from a number of reproductive health problems, including infertility, uterine cancer and PCOS. Because obesity causes disruption in the menstrual cycle and the endocrine system that is responsible for the delicate balance of hormones necessary for successful ovulation, studies have found that even a modest reduction in body fat of between 5 and 10 percent is often enough to restore ovulation and fertility.
• Osteoarthritis has grown increasingly common as the rate of obesity has increased. The excess weight adds to increased wear and tear on the joints, particularly on the knees and hips. Obese women are nine times more likely to suffer from osteoarthritis of the knee, often leading to the need for a total joint replacement. However, researchers have found that losing as little as 11 pounds can reduce the risk of knee osteoarthritis by half.

The increased risks of these six diseases alone are good reasons to lose weight if you are obese. Even losing a little has been shown to have a positive effect on your health, and it can significantly reduce the amount you spend on health care every year.

• About 17% of medical costs in the US are due to obesity and its related diseases, totaling an estimated $168 billion per year.
• Obesity adds about $2,800 to a person’s medical bills annually.
• An estimated 300,000 premature deaths in the US each year are caused by obesity.
• One third of US adults are obese, indicating a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.
• If an 18-year-old remains obese throughout their adulthood, it will cost them $550,000.
• 80% of cases of Type 2 diabetes are related to obesity. The rate of diabetes has doubled in eight states since 1995.
• 70% of heart disease is obesity-related.
• Low-income women are more likely to become obese than high-income women. Over 33% of people earning less than $15,000 annually are obese, as opposed to a 24.6% rate of obesity in those earning $50,000 or more.
• The highest rates of obesity are found among non-Hispanic African Americans (44.1%), followed by Mexican-Americans (39.3%), Hispanics (37.9%) and non-Hispanic whites (32.6%). Asians have the lowest rate of obesity at 16.7%.
• In the last 30 years childhood obesity has tripled, from 6.5% in children aged 6 to 11 years to 19.6% today. The obesity rate in teenagers aged 12 to 19 years has increased from 5% to 18.1%.
• Of children who are overweight at age 10-15, 80% will be obese as adults.
• As a percentage of the population, the US has the highest number of obese people (33.9%), followed by Mexico (24%), the UK (23%), Slovakia (22.4) and Greece (22%).
• College graduates have an obesity rate of 20.8%, which is lower than the 29.5% rate of those who have only graduated high school.
• Obesity begins to decline after age 60. The population of those over age 69 has an obesity rate of 20.5%.
• The rate of obesity is increasing in the US. In 2007 only one state had an overall obesity rate of over 30%. In 2011, 12 states had a greater than 30% obesity rate.
• 40% of obese Americans aged 50 to 84 have osteoarthritis of the knee, caused by the wear and tear to the joints from excess weight stress. One extra pound of weight is equivalent to four pounds of stress on the knee.

The benefits of probiotics were first discovered by Dr. Eli Metchnikoff, who studied the lifestyle of Russian peasants found to be living unusually long life spans. He noticed that their diet consisted of large amounts of fermented milk, which carry high levels of probiotics, and linked their longevity to this diet.

The two most common types of probiotics are bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, which can be taken either in food or as a supplement to help balance our gut microflora after an illness or course of medications such as antibiotics. The excessive use of antibiotics can lead to a proliferation of problems, as they not only wipe out the bad bacteria, but take out the good as well. This allows for opportunistic organisms to gain a foothold, such as candida, a naturally occurring yeast that lives harmlessly in the digestive tract. If it is able to grow unchecked by good bacteria, it may transform into fungal form and cause all manner of health issues, such as tiredness, fuzzy thinking, leaky gut, etc. Probiotics ensure that harmful microbes are kept in check in your digestive system.

The body normally carries over 400 different strains of these microorganisms in its digestive tract, amounting to 10 trillion in total. This is 10 times more than all the cells in your body. Though the greatest concentrations of probiotics live in the colon, they reside in many other parts of the body as well, helping to support the immune system.

Up to 80% of our immune response is dependent on probiotics, which stimulate the production of macrophages, T-cells and cytokines. They also produce natural antibiotics that are able to fight many pathogens that have developed a resistance to standard antibiotics. And if a pathogen develops resistance to one of the antibiotic chemicals produced by the probiotic, it has the ability to adapt that chemical to one that is more effective in fighting the pathogen, which standard antibiotics are unable to do.

Studies have found probiotics to be antagonistic to many types of cancer, stimulating the production of cancer-fighting chemicals in the body, leading to the shrinkage of tumors and encouraging cancer cell death.

Probiotics also help fight against viruses, including colds, flus, herpes, rotavirus and ulcers. In a study done on 2- to 5-year-old children in India who were given either probiotics or placebo for 6 months, those taking the probiotics had fewer cases of cold, flu, fever and diarrhea than those taking placebo.

Probiotics can naturally be found in different fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchee, kefir, miso, kombucha and sauerkraut. Look for labeling that states “live active cultures” on the package to ensure you are getting useful probiotics in your food.

There is a disk in the jaw known as the articular disk, which separates the skull from the condyle head of the mandible. Misalignment of this disk can cause TMJ. This misalignment may be caused by stress, which causes clenching and grinding of the teeth, sometimes during sleep. TMJ can also be caused by missing or crowded teeth, or trauma including whiplash. Up to 35% of Americans suffer some form of TMJ.

Symptoms of TMJ include pain and stiffness upon opening or closing the mouth, or a cracking, grinding or popping sound when using the joint. The condition creates significant wear on the joint and can have serious consequences for normal daily use of your jaw.

As chiropractors are experts in joint misalignment, they are well suited to treat TMJ. Your chiropractor will look at all aspects of your lifestyle and will ask you for a complete medical history. X-rays are useful to locate the condyle head of the mandible and check the positioning of the articular disk. Palpating the area also helps to establish the severity of the condition.

Treatment focuses on relieving tension in the many muscles of the jaw and possibly the neck and upper back. It will exclude surgery and medication, and may include adjustments and manipulation of trigger points by hand to achieve relaxation. If stress is one of the causes of your TMJ, certain exercises and relaxation techniques can be very useful to relieving the symptoms. These techniques might include meditation, massage, counseling and biofeedback. Heat and ice can also be soothing. You may also be asked to do some exercises at home.

The result of these treatments is usually greater range of motion in the jaw joint, which not only relieves jaw pain but the locking and popping, headaches, and neck pain. However, chiropractic care goes beyond pain relief and is often able to prevent TMJ from returning. The combination of effective treatment options and the avoidance of medications or surgery make chiropractic care an excellent choice for treatment of TMJ.

Too much coffee can lead to a temporary increase in blood pressure, anxiety and upset stomach, in addition to its ability to become addictive. And don’t forget that added cream and sugar contribute to weight gain. For example, a 24-ounce Starbucks venti double chocolate chip frappucino contains a mind-boggling 520 calories!

Despite these drawbacks, moderate coffee consumption can actually have a protective effect, helping to reduce your risk of many problems, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, liver cancer, gallstones and Type 2 diabetes, to name a few. It can also lower the risk of stroke in women.

Current research has indicated that there is no increased risk of heart disease or cancer from moderate coffee drinking. The studies done earlier that reached that conclusion were flawed in that they did not take into consideration other lifestyle habits that went along with increased coffee drinking, such as smoking and lack of exercise, two major causes of these diseases. In fact, coffee has been shown to protect against many kinds of cancer.

A recent study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention found that there was a 25 percent reduction in cases of endometrial cancer in women who drank four or more cups of coffee per day. Scientists believe this may be due to the fact that coffee has the ability to lower concentrations of free estradiol and insulin, in addition to the cancer-fighting effect of coffee’s antioxidant phenols.

Even a few cups of coffee every day can cut men’s risk of developing prostate cancer by 30 percent, with those consuming six cups of coffee a day reducing their risk of a dangerous form of the cancer by a whopping 60 percent.

Coffee also reduces your risk of developing basal cell carcinoma by up to 20 percent, according to scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Another study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that women who drink coffee (four cups per day) have a 20 percent lower risk of depression than those who drink no coffee at all.

It is recommended that you get no more than 500-600 mg of caffeine intake per day, the equivalent of about 6 to 8 cups of brewed coffee. Obviously, the amount of caffeine in a cup of espresso will be more than that in the equivalent amount drip coffee.

The key point to keep in mind is to consume coffee in moderate amounts, especially if you are pregnant. But all in all, the benefits of coffee consumption far outweigh the risks for most people, so grab a café grande and drink up!

FREE 45 minute informational presentation on Healthy Weight Loss using several programs we offer at the clinic on Tuesday 1/17/12; Doctor prescribed Hcg (oral, not injected or homeopathic), our Greensfirst Rejuvenation/Detox Program, and our CVR (creative visualization & relaxation) light and sound system. Good Health Naturally, PLLC,  3606 Main St. Suite 205 Vancouver WA 98663, (360) 910-1112