Friday, September 17, 2010

Is the Runner's High a Quick Buzz or a Long-Term Benefit?

Normal 0 0 1 615 3511 29 7 4311 11.1287

Methinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow
- Henry David Thoreau



Every day I have patients who come to me asking what they should take to help prevent memory loss or to treat depression or “brain fog” – a loss of ability to concentrate fully. I have several supplements that can help those things, but there is one prescription that is more proven, consistently helpful and accessible than any pill – prescription or over the counter supplement. It’s called exercise.

Evidence is mounting that physical exercise is good for the brain as well as the body. Of course we know that vigorous cardiovascular exercise, like running, elicits an increase in endorphin production, those feel-good chemicals made by our brain that elevate our emotions. But we also know that there are other, longer term, neurologic benefits of exercise.

It turns out that aerobic exercise slows the loss of gray matter, the part of the brain that atrophies as we age. This is one way in which exercise keeps us mentally young. Gray matter makes up the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that allows for processing of information. Research shows that the more dense the gray matter is in a particular region of the brain, the more intelligence or skill the brain's owner is likely to have.

While such aerobic exercise like running or using the elliptical machine prevents brain aging, scientists have found that anaerobic exercise, such as working out with weights, stimulates the creation of new brain cells in the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning – the dentate gyrus (part of the hippocampus). Many people think that the brain stops growing by adulthood, but new nerve cells continue to be generated in the hippocampus throughout our lives. Exercise can help stimulate the growth of such cells, which are essential to learning.

On the flip side, stressful events have been shown to destroy these newly developed nerve cells in the hippocampus, making it harder to retain new lessons learned or memories created. This is how those stress-reducing endorphins that get stimulated by vigorous exercise can help protect your brain.

There are other ways in which exercise is neuroprotective, meaning it builds up our ability to defend ourselves against neurologic decline. Exercise causes levels of a substance called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) to increase. BDNF has been called “Miracle-Gro for the brain” by Harvard Psychiatrist John J Ratey, MD in his book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain because it helps nerve cells transmit information better. In fact, low levels of BDNF are associated with depression; so increasing BDNF through exercise can be a natural anti-depressant in a more permanent way than that surge of endorphins.

One more way that exercise helps the brain is by preventing brain damage from stroke. Many studies attest to the benefit of cardiovascular exercise in preventing or minimizing atherosclerosis, the process by which arteries get clogged with plaque. Strokes occur when such plaque-ridden arteries interfere with blood flow to the brain. One recent study showed that men engaging in intense physical activity had less than half the risk of stroke as those who did not engage in such activities. Furthermore, for those who did have a stroke, the ones who had been exercising before the stroke recovered greater and faster than those who were not physically active. So, exercise was like a great insurance policy that protected people from having stroke and helped them get better even if they did have one.

People spend enormous resources investigating and purchasing supplements that have far less evidence supporting their use in preventing neurological decline than does simple exercise. It may be easier to pop a pill than to go for a run, but the benefits – both short and long term – are more predictable with the running than with the pill.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Nutrition Conference

Who is going for the conference in Atlanta?
Anyone interested in room sharing pl email me
mchiniwala@gmail.com

Friday, January 15, 2010

Friday, December 4, 2009

new practice

to all

Kathi Russo and I are joining class of 2010 fellows Sheila Kilbane and Will Lane to open a satellite practice in the Charlotte area. Touchstone Health Associates. A new clinic to grow IM in.

Chris

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Why Men Die Earlier

Why Men Die Earlier And Suffer More – this was the theme of the World Congress on Men’s Health in Vienna where I was a presenter and attendee last month. Certainly there are many arguments against the idea that men suffer more than women, but it is a fact that men die earlier. In fact, for every major cause of mortality that affects both men and women, men die faster.

When you look at cancer, not including gender-specific cancers like Breast and Cervical, men have a 60% higher chance of developing the disease and a 40% higher chance of dying from cancer than women. In fact, men have an increased risk of mortality at all ages, increased risk of heart disease and increased risk of alcoholism, suicide and homicide. In the top 10 causes of death, men are winning in 9 of them.

Why is this? Are men genetically programmed to die sooner then women? Is the joke true that married men die before their wives “because they want to?” The difference in life span between men and women has been relatively unexamined because it has been assumed to be based on biology. But this does not appear to be the case. For one, the gender gap in life expectancy changes across countries and across time as well as by age. The gap was only 1 year at the beginning of the 20th century, but grew to over 5 years by 2004. The gender difference is much larger in African countries where AIDS strikes men at higher rates than women and in countries of the former Soviet Union, where the differences in average age of deaths are even more pronounced than in the US.

Perhaps masculinity itself is killing us. It seems that risk-taking behavior, stress and doctor-avoidance may be the best explanations for the gender gap. It is true that men just don’t go to the doctor. Men are twice as likely as women to say they do not have a usual source of health care, and men attend half as many preventive care visits. This leads to half the opportunities to screen men who for disease processes and risk factors for disease such as high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, substance abuse, cigarette smoking and depression or anxiety. Lack of identification of such risks leads to diseases presenting more often and in more advanced stages than among those who are treated sooner.

Male gender roles may play a part in making men feel that they should deal with symptoms or illness on their own. Just as men typically don’t ask for directions when lost, the male may feel it is not “masculine” to seek help for potentially serious medical symptoms. It remains to be seen whether the metrosexual movement will improve the rate at which men seek care for potentially dangerous conditions. However, to the extent that higher mortality can be explained by avoidance of the health care system, it is incumbent upon creators of health policy and providers of health care to make such services more attractive and accessible to men.

Men’s habits and roles also impact their rates of disease incidence, While women are taking on more and more professional roles previously held by men, in the US, 95% of workers in the 10 most hazardous occupations are still men. Men die in workplace accidents at much higher rates as women, even excluding combat deaths, which were the leading cause of occupational deaths in the US when last reported in 2005.

Then there are non-occupational risks that men take. Men have higher rates of alcohol abuse, drive faster and are more likely to eat an unhealthy diet. Men report higher levels of stress and lower rates of stress-reducing activities. Well, then, one might say that men deserve to die younger. However, when disparities are found in risk-taking among ethnic or socioeconomic groups, the usual response is not to blame the group at risk. The socially responsible response is to take a hard look at how the educational and health care systems may have failed that group and what can be done to change that, which promotes risk-taking.

Social policy also impacts the rate at which men access the healthcare system. There are fewer programs that target men as specifically as women. Men are less likely to be insured and are less able to qualify for public insurance, such as Medicaid, than women with children.

It is dangerous to assume that the gap in life expectancy between men and women is biological. Such an assumption stops us from examining social, economic, behavioral, or public policies that may be contributing to higher mortality. In the United States, Men’s health is largely neglected when looking at health policy. This is not as much the case in Europe and Australia, where entire departments of Andrology exist at many academic and governmental health institutions. Such departments include anthropologists and sociologists, policy advisors and health service researchers. Women have strongly advocated for their own health, leading to increased research, public policies favorable to women’s health concerns and health care delivery approaches that specifically address women’s health issues. Men need to do the same, not to take away such programs for women, but to add years to the lives of their fellow man.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Practice Links



I have changed the format of the blog site - just a little.
I've moved the Classmate Practice Links to near the top of the side column. If you send me your link (just attach it to your posting) I will add it to the blog. Thanks!

Hope to see many of you at the Nutrition Conference. ~ Jackie

Photo: Aruba, 2008

Thursday, April 16, 2009

did anyone get their pic w dr weil and tierona from grad?

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Who is going to May Nutrition Conference?

Just checking who I will see there!! I know Chris and Chasse are in, anyone else? 
Tanmeet

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

IOM Pictures


Karen, TaYa, Myles


Fellows and friends out for dinner


CIM fellows at IOM outside the Acadamies of Sciences
Washington, D.C.


Maggie, Davi and Jackie

Monday, March 9, 2009

Diplomas

Have any of you guys received your diplomas yet?

Thursday, March 5, 2009

A Lasting Impression - Summary of the IOM Summit


Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that a full video webcast of the Institute of Medicine's Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public is now available to view at http://www.imsummitwebcast.org. Please note that clicking on this link will take you to a third party website. We hope you will benefit from the webcast and experience the excitement of the meeting as you view various sessions.

Please note that slide presentations have also been posted on our website, www.iom.edu/integrativemedicine.

We extend our thanks to all for a successful Summit - it will no doubt have a lasting impression on all who were involved. A summary of the Summit will be published this fall, and we will certainly inform you upon its release.

Best regards,

Summit Staff

integrativemedicine@nas.edu

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Hopefully the tipping point

If you haven't seen the senate hearing with Andy, Mehmet Oz, Mark Hyman, and Dean Ornish, check it out. It gets me excited that transformation is on its way and integrative medicine will be at the frontline of this. Now, I know this is government and things happen at snail space, but I am an idealist and this is inspiring for me! I think you can just click on the title of this post to get there. Enjoy...


Friday, February 27, 2009

Finally!

Hi All,
Sorry about the delay in sending in a blog. I had the hardest time getting this thing to work. Hope all are well. I am sure everyone is busy. If anyone is interested we will be having a conference here in Maine the first weekend in May. The Maine AAP is having their spring conference on CAM/IM in peds. A lot of it will be things many of you already know but it should have some interesting discussions since it is going to be in the "mainstream" rather than primarily an IM crowd. It is being held in a nice resort nestled in the western mountains of Maine. Definitely good chi! If you may be interested, E-mail me and I will forward the brochure. I miss seeing you all and reading all the responses during the fellowship. Take care and will try to write more.

Matt

Monday, February 9, 2009

First reunion in our class!


Maria and I were at the Center for Mind Body Medicine training last week. It was so nice to be with one of my peeps!! Hoping more of us can cross paths soon...

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Matt Hand on TV


I saw Matt Hand (otherwise known as "Dr. Hotty") on TV Sunday night!!

He was on TLC in a documentary about Shiloh Pepin, one of only three survivors of sirenomelia or Mermaid syndrome worldwide.

Matt, the show was priceless!

World Peace Meditation 2/12

World Peace Card Meditation Thursday, February 12, 7:30pm(based on local time in your time zone)
You are invited to take part in the second World Peace Card Meditation. Please mark your calendar and forward this email to all your friends.
Thank you so much for accepting our gift of the free World Peace Cards. You are one of over 15,000 people who have done so. I hope you have been using your peace cards as their use brings blessings to the world as well as to you.
A second World Peace Card group meditation has been scheduled for Thursday, February 12 at 7:30pm. This is local time in your time zone. This method has been chosen because of the special effect it produces. As people meditate in each successive time zone the energy builds like a wave which gets stronger and stronger as it circles the planet. Because of the higher dimensional nature of consciousness, the energy of peace will be sustained for a full 24 hours and continue long after this.
Reports from those who took part in the first meditation indicate many had powerful spiritual experiences. As they united with those taking part in the meditation a feeling of peace developed within that stayed with each for a long time. Some saw beautiful golden light surrounding the planet and others felt that a web of fear was dissipating and being replaced with trust in others and for our future.
All those who have received the cards are being asked to meditate on world peace at this time. By taking part in this group meditation, you’ll be joining thousands of people who will be using the cards to bring peace to the world. By joining together, the affect we have will be greatly multiplied. This powerful experience and will help shift the vibration of our wonderful planet into a higher state of consciousness. As you use the cards to meditate on world peace, you will be a beacon through which peace will spread around the planet which will have a positive uplifting effect on all people.
Please set aside this time to meditate with the cards. The suggested meditation period is 15 minutes, but of course you can meditate longer if you’d like to. The technique I’d like you to use is based on allowing yourself to be a beacon of peace. The World Peace Cards hold the vibration of the World Peace Grids which have been placed at spiritually significant locations and are relay stations for higher consciousness. By simply opening to their energy, you’ll become a channel for their love and peace which will flow through you to all the people on Earth. To do this, hold the cards in your hands or place them in front of you. Then simply meditate on peace.
We are entering a new era. Our entire planet including all the people and living things are moving into a place where it will be much easier to solve our problems and to create peace, prosperity and happiness for everyone. The World Peace Card meditation will quicken this process, making it easier for people to experience this new quality of higher consciousness and will provide great benefit for all people. Since this benefit will be flowing through you out to everyone on the planet, you'll be blessed by this experience as well.
Many have received the cards in the mail or in the Reiki News Magazine while others have downloaded them from our web site. If you would like additional copies of the cards, please download them using this link and print as many copies as you can use. Please feel free to give them to your friends. Also, forward this email to anyone you feel would like to take part in the meditation.
Additional World Peace Cards http://www.silvermarketnewsonline.com/PeaceGrids.pdf
When printing the cards from this file, print page 2 first, then place this page in your printer and print the image of the peace grids on the back.
Thank you for taking part in this group meditation.
Sincerely,William Lee RandThe International Center for Reiki Training

Saturday, February 7, 2009

IOM Summit on Integrative Medicine

Is anybody else going to the
Institute of Medicine Summit on Integrative Medicine
in Washington D.C.?

Monday, January 26, 2009

integrative endocrinologist in Hartford, CT?

A friend of mine who lives in Connecticut is struggling with thyroid issues. Does anyone know of a good integrative internist/endocrinologist in that area?

I live in Columbus, OH and am clueless about this....

Thank you and hope you are well. I will see some of you in Chicago in May!!

Linda

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

nutrition and health


My wife and I are in for this great conference. Who else is coming?

Friday, January 16, 2009

New CIM Website

If you haven't checked out the new CIM website - you should.
Wow - what a wonderful change and soooooo functional!


Hope you are all well!! Jackie