water

The Joys of Swimming for Fun and Fitness

June 2, 2016 oblanderchiropractic

man-swimmming-200-300 With summer weather heating things up across much of the country, swimming is a great way to cool off and have some fun! But did you know that it’s also an excellent way to increase your fitness, help control your weight and improve your overall mood? Plus, swimming is a type of exercise that people of any age and physical ability can enjoy. It’s easy on the musculoskeletal system while at the same time providing a good aerobic workout.

Swim for Fun

Even among avid swimmers, boredom in the pool is one of the common reasons for losing interest in sport. While swimming laps in the pool may not seem like a recipe for fun, here are a few things you can do to add some variety to your in-water workouts.

Plan your in-pool workout ahead of time and vary your activities so that variety is built-in.
Swim with buddies who have the same water fun and fitness goals that you do.
When swimming laps, do things to keep your mind engaged in your activity and help sharpen your technique. Counting how many strokes you need to complete a length of the pool and how quickly you can do it is one way to look for improvements. Experimenting with stroke length is another.
If you have the option, change up the locations of your swimming workouts. A change of scenery—from an indoor pool to an outdoor one, or from a lake to the ocean—can make a big difference in how your workout feels.
Add to your “playbook” of swimming drills. You can reach out to others or go online for suggestions to help mix things up.
Learn some new strokes or make up some of your own. You might look silly doing it, but it adds to the experience!

Swim for Fitness

While swimming may not be as accessible as walking, running or even biking in some communities, it has distinctive health benefits that make it well worth the trip to a local pool. The organization that governs all swimming-related activities in the UK (called the ASA) compiled a report of scientific findings from all over the world about the health benefits of swimming. Some of them are truly striking. For instance, researchers have found that swimming regularly reduces men’s risk of dying early by a staggering 50% relative to those who run, walk or do no physical activity. Experts estimate that just two and a half hours per week of swimming can significantly reduce your risk of chronic disease.

A good all-around exercise, swimming involves both aerobic activity and working against resistance. Unlike most aerobic activities, however, swimming involves little in the way of jarring impact (like the shocks and jolts involved with running) and doesn’t require you to support your full body weight while doing it. When submerged up to your neck in water, your body weight is effectively reduced by 90 percent. As a result, overweight and obese people can get a good workout without placing large amounts of painful stress on the lower body’s muscles and joints. This removes a common deterrent to exercise for a large (and growing) part of the US population and suggests that swimming could be an attractive option for people trying to manage their weight.

Arthritis sufferers or those with musculoskeletal injuries can also benefit from swimming, since studies have shown that it improves range of motion without causing a worsening of symptoms such as pain and stiffness. In fact, according to the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, swimming as a form of exercise (as opposed to running or practicing other impact sports) can reduce your risk of osteoarthritis.

Beyond increasing fitness levels and helping to manage weight, swimming may provide a variety of other health benefits:

Studies performed on people suffering from fibromyalgia have found that exercise performed in a warm pool reduced anxiety and depression and caused an improvement in mood.
For older adults, swimming has been shown to improve quality of life and reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Post-menopausal women in particular are at increased risk of bone loss, and swimming provides a safe and effective form of the resistance exercise that is needed to maintain bone density.
Pregnant women find that swimming strengthens their shoulder and abdominal muscles, which are put under increased stress during pregnancy. Obstetricians recommend swimming as a good form of exercise for most pregnant women, as it provides them with temporary relief from the extra weight they are carrying.

It’s hard to exaggerate the potential fitness benefits of swimming. Swimming helps to build cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength and endurance. It tones your muscles and helps to maintain healthy heart and lung function. It also improves flexibility, reduces blood pressure and alleviates stress. Whether in a community pool, at a nearby lake or in the ocean, swimming offers an ideal way for most people to keep fit that’s also easy on the body’s musculoskeletal system.

So get out there this summer and have some fun in the water!

Seven Deadly Health Sins

May 31, 2016 oblanderchiropractic

jolly-roger-200-300 Behind many of the debates about healthcare in the US—its availability and cost as well as its effectiveness—is an important phenomenon. The demands being placed on healthcare providers are growing and changing (at least in large part) because of the way we live our lives. Day-to-day choices we all make are contributing to a wide variety chronic health conditions that are sometimes referred to as “lifestyle diseases.” And while our healthcare system is very good at treating acute medical problems, it is not very good at preventing or treating chronic ones.

In many cases, it’s fair to say that the health we get in the future is a result of the lifestyle decisions we make in the present. With this idea in mind, it’s also fair to ask whether it makes good sense to ask our healthcare system to single-handedly save us from the effects of our own unhealthy habits. This is why, as chiropractic physicians, we work closely with our patients to help them be more active in their own health by taking more responsibility for their own lifestyle choices.

So which lifestyle choices are causing the most trouble? While we could obviously point out harmful behaviors like smoking, drinking too much alcohol or using harmful drugs, the behaviors that really need more attention from most people are much more fundamental. We call these the “Seven Deadly Health Sins” that compromise longevity and quality of life.

Sitting Too Much. According to the Mayo Clinic, those who have a sedentary lifestyle are in danger of things like “obesity and metabolic syndrome — a cluster of conditions that includes increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels.” A recent study showed that those who spend a large amount of time in front of a television or other forms of screen entertainment had a roughly 50% greater risk of death from any source.

Eating Too Much Fat, Sugar and Salt. The typical American diet not only contains too many calories, it’s also too high in fat, salt and sugar. In excess, these ingredients (all too common in processed foods) trigger a wide range of complex, self-inflicted health problems.

Sleeping Too Little. According to a recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation, a combination of daily stress and lifestyle choices (including nighttime activities as well as eating and exercise habits) is causing more than a third of the U.S. population to get fewer hours of sleep than they need.

Drinking Too Little Water. Most of us would be much better off if we drank lots more water and fewer sugary drinks. While there’s no real evidence that Americans are chronically dehydrated (despite all the hard work of bottled water companies), there is plenty of evidence that the things we are drinking aren’t particularly good for us from a nutritional point of view.

Mismanaging Stress. Our relationship with stress is a complicated one. The simple truth is that stress itself isn’t inherently positive or negative for our health. The thing we actually have to pay attention to is how we respond to it. While the physiological stress response we’ve inherited through evolution is designed to help us confront immediate physical dangers, most of today’s threats aren’t immediate or physical. The result of this mismatch is that our “fight or flight” response may stay switched on for much longer periods than nature intended. This in turn can cause a variety of health problems. Since stress is an inevitable part of modern life, it’s important for us to embrace the positive view of stress that helps us grow and develop while also learning how to turn off the harmful effects.

Ignoring Posture Problems. The way we carry ourselves while sitting or standing can have lasting implications for our musculoskeletal health. The bad news is that poor posture can reduce our strength, flexibility, and balance and—at the extreme—can cause pain and even compromise organ function. The good news is that posture problems can be corrected once they’ve been recognized. Even better, it’s possible to prevent them by developing good habits in the first place.

Putting Off Preventive Healthcare. The best time to pay attention to your health is while you still have it. Unfortunately, many Americans still cling to the reactive “sickness care” model and don’t take full advantage of the expanded preventive care options that have been made available to them as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The US Department of Health and Human Services estimates the ACA made 76 million Americans “newly eligible” for free preventive care. But a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll in March 2014 revealed that only 43% of the population was aware of the change, meaning that many people are probably foregoing preventive care out of cost concerns. Remember—it’s always better to recognize and treat a health problem early before it grows worse and becomes more difficult to address!

By avoiding these Seven Deadly Health Sins, you can also avoid many chronic health conditions. If you or someone you care about has health questions or concerns, we encourage you to call or visit our office today. We’re here to help!

Summer Water Safety for Kids

May 26, 2016 oblanderchiropractic

For lots of kids, there aren’t many activities in the summer that are more fun than swimming, whether it’s in a pool, lake, or ocean. And while it’s great exercise for your children to be spending a lot of time in and around the water, there are (of course) dangers that they should be aware of. As a parent, you undoubtedly want to keep your child safe in the water this summer, so here are a handful of simple precautions to take and instructions to give your children before they put a toe in the water.

Explain to your children the importance of water safety. Make sure they know and understand the following:

That they must always stay in the line of vision of a supervisor, be it you, a caretaker, or a lifeguard.
That they must obey all rules of the place they are swimming—for example, if a public pool says “No Diving,” then your kids should absolutely not dive. Remind them to respect the regulations laid down by lifeguards or other authority figures.
That they should never, ever swim unattended until they have proven they thoroughly understand the rules and dangers of the water. This rule applies only to older children, and swimming in the ocean alone is not acceptable, no matter how careful your child is—there are too many variables and dangers that even the most cautious swimmer cannot avoid, such as riptides and undertows.

It’s a good idea for your child to take a water safety course with a certified water safety instructor. Check your local YMCA if you don’t know where to start.

If you have a residential pool, there are some essential safety precautions that you and your children must take.

When the pool is not in active use and there are no adults present to supervise, it is important that you set up a barrier so that young children do not fall in or use the pool without permission. A gate with a lock around the entirety of the pool is one way to accomplish this. The Red Cross recommends that you “Ensure that pool barriers enclose the entire pool area, are at least 4-feet high with gates that are self-closing, self-latching and open outward, and away from the pool. The latch should be high enough to be out of a small child’s reach.”
You should teach your child to always, always ask permission to use the pool. This can cut way down on unauthorized use of the pool, and thus cut way down on the risks involved with having a pool with children in the house.
For younger children who don’t quite have the hang of swimming on their own, water wings or a life jacket are a must, even if an adult is supervising.
When you are supervising, pay close attention. org advises: “Put the cell phone away, forget about all the other things you have to do and give young children 100% of your attention when they are near or around water.”
Learn CPR. This is something every parent should do regardless of whether their kids swim or not; it’s simply a responsible thing to learn, and it could save your child or someone else’s life—and that makes learning it worth more than gold.

10 Great Reasons to Stay Hydrated

May 12, 2016 oblanderchiropractic

Water is essential to life. Our bodies are already 60%-70% water, and those reserves need to be replenished on a daily basis to keep us healthy. Add either extreme heat or extreme cold (both of which dehydrate us), and drinking enough water becomes even more critical.

Exactly how much water we should drink each day is an open question. As reported by the Mayo Clinic, the Institute of Medicine has determined that adequate water intake per day is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) for men and 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) for women. Some sources recommend more, some less, but there seems to be no question within the healthcare community that many of us should be drinking more water than we are. Here are a few reasons why:

Water curbs your appetite, and contains zero calories. Both of these reasons should have some appeal to you whether you’re actively trying to lose a few pounds or just trying to maintain a healthy weight. Studies have shown that often when people think they’re hungry, they’re really thirsty.
Water increases your energy levels. Studies have indicated that a cup of water can be more effective at boosting your energy levels than a cup of coffee. One suspected reason for this is that our perception of fatigue is often caused more by dehydration than actually being tired.
Water is good for your skin. Rather than investing in expensive creams and lotions, why not invest in a few more glasses of water per day? They will help to keep your skin healthy, radiant, and glowing. And it’s a lot less expensive than anything you could buy at the cosmetics counter.
Water increases your brain power. According to a study in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, subjects who drank a glass of water before performing a series of cognitive tasks reacted faster and thought more clearly than subjects who did not.
Water helps maintain the balance of your other bodily fluids. You lose moisture daily via sweat and other excretions. Similarly, your blood, lymph, and intestinal fluids become depleted, and must be replenished with a proper intake of water.
Water improves your moods. Although there are many causes of depression, headaches, irritability, and fatigue, one of the most common is dehydration. When your body becomes low on water, your blood vessels dilate, causing all of these symptoms. Increasing your daily intake of water can counter and reverse them.
Water lowers your risk of heart attack. When your arteries and veins become clogged with plaque, you increase your likelihood of heart disease—one of the most effective ways of preventing this buildup of plaque is to remain properly hydrated. A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that drinking more water was positively associated with a decrease in the risk of coronary heart disease. Drinking liquids other than water increased this risk, according to the same study.
Water can keep your joints lubricated, too. The synovial fluid that keeps your joints functioning properly and that keeps your bones from rubbing against each other becomes depleted when you are dehydrated. Drinking more water prevents this.
Water improves your digestion. Your ability to digest your food depends on the proper functioning of a series of enzymes in your intestinal tract. The “delivery mechanism” for these enzymes is water—don’t get enough of it, and your ability to digest and assimilate nutrients in your food breaks down.

Water even prevents fluid retention. This sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s true. Dehydration causes the body to retain water, because it thinks there is a critical lack of it. Drinking more water actually causes your body to stop retaining it.

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