Category: Resources

Categories
All For your Info Performance Resources Success Story Tips

Secrets To Living Long

Written by: Tim Irvine

The picture you are looking at is that of Arthur Kennedy Sr. He’s one of my heroes and a shining example of how to live life. You can learn from him, so read on to find out how.

Arthur is 90 years old and took this picture a few weeks before writing this article. His trip to the Grand Canyon was part of his 90th birthday celebration. I’ve only known him for the last ten years, but in that time, he’s travelled to many exotic locales in the world, usually multiple times a year. Herein lies the important message.

Arthur isn’t managing his health to the nth degree; he’s just enjoying life doing things he loves to do.

Sure, he pays attention to what he eats, but not religiously. He loves a great meal and a nice bottle of wine.

He exercises regularly but does so to continue to do the things he loves, with travel being at or near the top of the list. It helps to keep him young.

He has family that he spends a lot of meaningful time with, including some of his travel.

Regardless of a person’s age, there are many lessons to be learned from Arthur. There is, however, one thing that he has just nailed:  He fills his life with experiences and people that he loves, and supports it with behaviours that allow him to do it whenever he wants. That’s the secret sauce that brings him happiness. It is also the same sauce that brings the rest of us happiness.

It’s worth thinking about how you might be able to adapt to this simple overarching approach. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, give yourself a score on how well you are doing but exclude 7 altogether. If you are 8 or higher, you are already doing a great job. If your score is 6 or lower, you may want to consider adjusting some things to have a bit more joy in your life. Pick just one thing you would like more of and take any size of steps towards it. You will get there one way or another.

To adapt a slogan from Nike, forget about ‘Be like Mike’, be like Arthur instead!

Categories
For your Info Performance Recommendations Resources Tips

The Best Brain Foods!

Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

The National Institutes of health define brain health as, “the ability to remember, learn, play, concentrate, and maintain a clear, active mind. It’s being able to draw upon the strengths of your brain – information management, logic, judgment, perspective, and wisdom.” 

Let’s face it, our minds are invaluable. When asking my patients what their health goals look like when they’re in their 80’s and beyond, number one is to have a clear, working mind, and sound mental health.

What often missed is that our brains respond to food! Our brains evolved in the context of a food environment that was nutrient rich, full of antioxidants, omega 3’s, and an abundance of vitamins and minerals for brain development, healing, and growth. It was thought that once we reached adulthood, our brains remain pretty inert. We now know, however, that our brains continue to grow, heal, and form new connections (aka neuroplasticity). Food and exercise have a big role to play in this. 

The best foods for a healthy brain incorporate herbs and spices, fermented foods, green leafy vegetables, vegetables (especially dark purple, red and orange coloured), nuts, beans, and healthy fats. These are what brains need to thrive and remain protected from cognitive decline.

The modern diet typically includes ultra processed foods (more than 5 ingredients listed, and plenty of added sugars), little fiber, and too much unhealthy fat. This diet contributes to many cognitive disorders ranging from ADHD, bipolar, depression, anxiety, dementia (Alzheimer’s is nicknamed type 3 diabetes), and increased stress perception. 

So here is our case for more real foods, and, specifically, these three areas to focus on.

Spice it Up

Let’s start with the heaviest hitter when it comes to the most antioxidant per calorie group – your herbs and spices! High antioxidant density means we protect our brain from getting damaged as antioxidants put out the fires of inflammation. Studies have shown that taking spices daily can help lower anxiety and depression. 

Spices like turmeric are great to incorporate into your cooking (if using turmeric, always add black pepper, as that helps you absorb the antioxidants 2000 x’s better!). For breakfast, adding spices like cinnamon and nutmeg are a great addition. Lunch and dinner can include Italian blends, cumin, paprika, etc. as a great way to bump up the flavour and antioxidant level of your dishes. Also keep spices like basil, oregano, mint, saffron, out on your dining table, so you can top off each meal with even more!

The O.G. of Probiotics

The word probiotic just means healthy bacteria. Fermented foods are the original ways we incorporated healthy bacteria into our gut. While they are not often part of daily Western diets, across the world, this is a necessary staple. The science on how our internal bacteria, the microbiome, impact our health is coming out loud and clear. A healthy microbiome means a healthy you! 90% of our serotonin, 50% of dopamine are produced in our gut, and 70% of our immune system is linked with these friendly microbes as well.

Incorporating more fermented foods on a regular basis has been shown to lower anxiety, depression, and improve stress resilience. Additional bonus are gut healing properties as well. Speak with your neighborhood naturopath or doctor on the pace of introducing fermented foods that work best for you.

Probiotics can decrease anxiety and our perception of stress and increase the level of omega-3 in our body and brain. But probiotics pills are often like a tourist bus that passes through our system and can stimulate the economy here and there, but once it leaves, its effects are gone. 

This is why fermented foods are a win-win. They contain the probiotic (the bacteria), plus the fiber to feed the bacteria so that it can be self-sustaining! Examples of fermented foods include kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, miso, and tempeh. 

Healthy Fats:  Omega-3

Studies show that including this essential fat in our meals can increase positive outlook on life and reduce depression. Omega 3 fatty acids are what our brains need to maintain its neural connections, and to form and reorganize new connections. Our bodies don’t produce these, which is why countries with diets rich in omega-3 have lower rates of depression.

Treating your brain right isn’t that hard, but if you are finding your habits lacking in the above areas, start small and keep it simple. Slowly but surely, you can feed your brain more of the foods it loves.

Categories
All For your Info Performance Recommendations Resources Tips

Good Sore vs. Bad Sore: Why Inflammation Matters For Both

Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

If you have been fortunate enough to feel the after-burn following an unexpectedly long adventurous walk, an intense cardio blast class, or from working out with your trainer, you have had the privilege of meeting some friendly inflammation. This physical microdamage triggers your immune cells to activate acute (momentary) inflammation so that your body can heal. This is where you reap the benefits of your actions, making the time spent in recovery key to making progress in your fitness goals. The influx of immune cells and fluid to the damaged area causes pressure on surrounding nerves which lead to familiar soreness. It is also these immune cells that are responsible for muscle regeneration, and repair. 

As you perform a workout, your muscles get fatigued and your strength within that session will decrease as a result. Studies show that after a bout of exercise that decreases in session strength by 20%, it can take up to two days to recover full strength. For those workouts that decrease in session strength by 50%, it can take up to seven days to recover. Having a recovery plan is important to protect ourselves from injury and give yourself sufficient time to get back into it. 

The more we exercise however, the better our muscles can adapt, and recover more quickly as your body learns to better control the inflammation.  So, if you’re just starting, know that you can work up to it slowly. 

And as annoying as it is to be reminded of this process with each tender step you take down the stairs, it is a helpful kind of inflammation which leads to muscle growth, fat loss, insulin sensitivity (because of more muscle tissue to take in glucose), and reduces chronic inflammation for the long run. Which ties into better health and protection from some of our major diseases.

Even if you are not exercising, this process can occur daily unbeknownst to us.

Physical damage that triggers our immune system also comes from added sugars, processed foods, sleep deprivation, and new science is showing, even loneliness.  When we put this kind of exposure on our bodies and minds, nonstop, we are causing sustained, unrelenting damage to our body. This can lead to joint pain, and conditions such as arthritis, and headaches, and more general feeling of fatigue, as your body goes through this extended wear and tear. It also impairs physical performance.

This is the wrong kind of inflammation! 

By tapping into the foundations of health, enjoying real, colourful foods, treating your sleep as precious, and getting yourself out there with friends and family, we can swing the detrimental impacts of inflammation to work in our favour. The key is to keep it acute, momentary, and then recover to allow it to turn off.

So, if you have soreness from good old exercise or movement, let yourself recover and reap the benefits. Speak with an expert on the types of recovery that may suit you and your goals best! Also know that the more you move, the more quickly your muscles can bounce back. Tie in eating real foods, 7-9 hours of sleep, and some social time, and that will take recovery to the next level!

Reference:

Doherty, R. et al. (2019). Sleep & nutrition interactions: implications for athletes. Nutrients 11(4). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11040822

Peake, M. J. et al. (2017). Muscle damage and inflammation during recovery from exercise. The Journal of Applied Physiology. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00971.2016


Van Bogart, K. et al. (2022). The association between loneliness and inflammation: Findings from an older adult population. Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.801746/full

Categories
All For your Info Performance Recommendations Resources Success Story Tips

Are You Embracing ‘Micro’?

Tim Irvine

I was reading this article on micro vacations and it reminded me how my thoughts on ‘workouts’ have evolved over the years.

Back when I was a part of a national championship university football team (I had to get that in there 😊), my workouts were much, much different than they are today. High performance sports, full control of my own schedule, lots of free time, etc. I could have worked out for 3 hours at a time and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference to the rest of my schedule.

Today, I run a business with five locations, an amazing team,  and have three children who are all involved in sports. Needless to say, my life as an athlete was much different than mine is as a parent and business owner.

That’s where ‘micro’ concept comes in. 

As a whole, I think we spend too much time pursuing the optimal way of doing things. We look at examples on social media, elite athletics, or people that we know who seem to ‘have it right’. A different approach is necessary to take into consideration the rest of us. 

I encourage you to drop the notion of doing things perfectly or optimally, and instead, take a micro approach to all things wellness and do what you can.

Don’t have 10min to put that salad together? Then crunch on a carrot.

Finding the time to get to the gym in short supply? Go through a body weight routine at home.

Can’t get away for that 10-day vacation? Make it a weekend within a couple of hours of where you live.

The point is, a little is better than none. It can be less stressful and sometimes more enjoyable than the full version. Remember, even small steps get you somewhere.

Categories
All For your Info Performance Promotions Recommendations Resources Success Story Tips

Do your workouts make you feel this good?

Dr. Stacy Irvine, DC

Why We Care So Much About What We Do……

An important part of working in the Health and Fitness industry, includes staying on top of the latest research along with developing an awareness of what is being presented to your clients and patients through a wide variety of media sources.  The normal scenario is when a completely bonkers fad diet is being promoted by a well-known celebrity, or a risky new type of workout is all over Instagram. We need to be prepared to explain what is happening and why is it probably not the best answer or solution any of us are looking for.

Rarely an article comes along that reflects a GREAT story of why we do what we do, and how our hard work and efforts can pay off. That happened with the article below from 56-year-old Nicole Haggerty.  In this well written, First-Person account, she eloquently explains what weightlifting has done for her, and how it has changed her life….

My favourite quote from this article is as follows:

“The past five months have unfolded as the most empowering journey I have every been on – and that includes getting a PhD. Every other accomplishment has been centered in my head……..But on reflection, I wasn’t paying much attention to my body.”

Please take a moment to read the full article. If you are an avid weightlifter, or just starting out on your weightlifting journey, we are sure you will find some extra motivation in these words.  

In the event the link above does not work, here is the article in full.

Nicole Haggerty

Published in The Globe and Mail, February 27, 2022

Red-faced, sweating and gasping, my brain tries to focus on what my trainer just said. I’ve just set down a 130 lbs hex frame and stepped off the platform to gulp water.

“Describe that to me,” asked Rob. He is looking for an answer that requires me to do something I’m just learning to do – connect my brain to my body.

Yes, I know. My brain is connected to my body – that slowly and inexorably expanding thing, below my neck that has been carrying my head around for the last 56 years. Since completing my undergraduate degree, work life has increasingly immobilized me. Sitting stationary at a desk, staring at a screen – it’s mostly through my fingers that I connect to my brain. I am an academic working at a business school – so they work feverishly to keep up as I pour out my thinking onto the screen, into the memo, e-mail, journal article … whatever the work is.

“It felt great,” I reply. “I could feel the work down my whole posterior chain.” (Who says that? – oh ya, I do!) “But my breathing and bracing weren’t great and I think I let my knees fall inward a couple of times.” Rob is quick to correct, encourage and set up more weight. Then cheerfully he’ll say, “Okay, next set.”

The last five months have unfolded as the most empowering journey I have ever been on – and that includes getting a PhD. Every other accomplishment in my life has been centred in my head – grades, degrees, promotions, published papers, even teaching. I’ve had a few close calls with fitness before – short triathlons, spin class, jogging. But on reflection, I wasn’t paying much attention to my body. These were instead, great opportunities to think my deep thoughts or focus on the world around me while I drowned out my panting breaths with the throbbing 80s music of my youth.

Weightlifting is different. Rob, my guide, has patiently walked me through a whole new world of specific functional movements, made possible by specific muscles moving in particular ways with increasing weights. He is a trainer and manager at my local gym and I was seeking someone who would help me with a single goal – get strong. I was tired of obsessing about steps and macros, and infinitely weary of the “eat less, move more” advice.

Getting strong (“not toned, not thin, not ready for a 5k”) seemed simple if a little embarrassing at my age. But Rob immediately took me seriously. It started with a humbling assessment of my strength and mobility.

Despite my age, size and beginner status, Rob has made me feel safe. Through his knowledge, patient demonstrations and encouragement, he has induced this body to squat, hinge, press and squeeze its way to all kinds of personal bests (which frankly is a low bar when you start from nothing but still – they keep coming). He’s taught me a new language – hypertrophy, eccentric, isometric … and more. He’s there when I falter, ready to ensure I don’t hurt myself even as he grins and asks for three more torturous reps.

The first weeks, I did everything he asked (glad for the mask mandate since it hid my ‘ugly lifting face’ though not my groaning). And always, he was there, clipboard in hand, a watchful gaze and posing questions like “Where did you feel that?” or the more general request, “Describe that for me.”

Early on I took these as rote pleasantries. Over time I realized he wanted more than rote answers. They were part of what needed to be trained. Having shown me how to do an exercise, Rob would explain where I should feel it and he encouraged me to think about the muscle or chain of muscles as they moved, stretched and strained. The questions were a test of that connection. Gradually, I started thinking my way back into my body. Not my body as an undifferentiated whole but as individual, electric connections to newly identified places – my traps, my quads, my delts, my glutes, my triceps and much more. Intentionally. Specifically. Magically. It’s surprisingly difficult and often funny. Like my recent five-second pause, struggling to repeat a lunge move that Rob had demonstrated because my disconnected brain couldn’t fathom what my legs were supposed to be doing. It’s hard work and relentless – every rep, every set, every time. Unnatural and unfamiliar. Yet infinitely natural and amazingly powerful. Rob has led me on a journey of discovery that I didn’t know could be so sacred and so glorious.

I am five months into a new way of living with this 56-year-old body. It talks to me in a totally different way now. A year ago, the simple act of standing up would provoke a cascade of little pains in my knees and hips, and a unique sort of unbending, wobbling walk as I unfolded myself. Today, my body still aches when I stand up – but the pains I feel now don’t scare me with their portending impairments. They are my quads, glutes, pecs and more – I’m still getting to know them all. Now they remind me of their capabilities, they call to me for movement, they demand to be challenged. And I long to continue this dialogue with them and represent their needs and experiences so I’m ready the next time Rob says:

“Describe that to me.”

Nicole Haggerty lives in London, Ont.

Categories
All For your Info Performance Recommendations Resources Success Story

How Inflammation Makes You Sick

Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

Inflammation is a protective signalling process from our immune system. It becomes amplified when we need to deal with an infection or injury and then quiets down so our body can regenerate, heal, and free up resources for other important bodily functions. The problem comes when the signal to ‘fire’ is left on for no good reason.

The image of acute inflammation after an injury is hot, red, painful, and swollen. But chronic inflammation can easily fly by the radar in our day-to-day life. Chronic inflammation is something that’s happening in all of us, but the level of intensity and amount of internal buffer we build determines how quickly our tissues get broken down. 

Chronic inflammation can be measured through a blood test called c-reactive protein (CRP), and those who are at the top third range are twice as likely to have a heart attack than those at the bottom third. A similar trend can be found for diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s, as risks for these diseases rise with the level of CRP measured. Cancer for instance was described in the 1870s as “a wound that doesn’t heal” by the father of modern pathology. He observed, and rightly so, that tumours often formed in sites of chronic inflammation. It is a generic fertilizer for every disease, and accounts for more than 50% of all causes of mortality. 

In addition, when the immune system is already revved up, a small insult like a cold or flu virus can trigger our system to overreact. This is when we see people who may meet the same virus but have drastically different responses. Those who have more chronic inflammation tend to have exacerbated symptoms and feel way more ill. Compare those who seem to never get sick. Those people are likely dealing with the same viruses, but their systems are strong enough that they don’t need the ‘big’ reaction which shows in the form of symptoms.

Physical activity is one way we can consistently lower inflammation. Did you know muscles also secrete some hormones? Specifically, when they contract, they release hormones that help reduce inflammation throughout the body. A large meta-analysis was done on over 1 million participants across Europe and the United States and found those who achieved 150 minutes of movement per week saw a reduction in risk for cardiovascular deaths by 23%, and type 2 diabetes by 26%. Another study found that hitting this number for physical activity reduced the risk for Alzheimer’s by 40%.

Staying active can mean anything that gets your body to move. Walking with a group of friends to your favourite spot in the city, gardening, taking a group class, rock climbing with co-workers, doing some neck rolls, stretches during work breaks, or air squats while you brush your teeth. Getting your muscles engaged, contracting to release anti-inflammatory hormones, and pumping your lymphatic system (immune system’s superhighway) are both ways to protect you from getting sick now and into the future. 

The bottom line is, keep inflammation down and you will be sick less, and when you do get sick, it won’t be as bad.

Reference:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/inflammation-a-unifying-theory-of-disease

Furman, D., Campisi, J., Verdin, E. et al. Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med 25, 1822–1832 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0675-0

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0

Santos-Lozano A, Pareja-Galeano H, Sanchis-Gomar F, Quindós-Rubial M, Fiuza-Luces C, Cristi-Montero C, Emanuele E, Garatachea N, Lucia A. Physical Activity and Alzheimer Disease: A Protective Association. Mayo Clin Proc. 2016 Aug;91(8):999-1020. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.04.024. PMID: 27492909.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/jaha.115.002495


Santos-Lozano, A. et al. Physical activity and Alzheimer disease: a protective association. Mayo. Clin. Proc. 91, 999–1020 (2016). Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27492909/

Categories
All For your Info Performance Recommendations Resources Tips

Why Inflammation Makes You Old

Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

The definition of aging is a progressive change that leads to increased debility, disease, and death. Wow! That sounds depressing. Don’t despair, there are things you can do to make it a much more pleasant picture.

As we age, there is a reduction in our cells capability to read the right genes at the right time. Genes are locked in our DNA and are highly specific instruction sets that govern everything that happens in our body. The loss of specific steps, or the inability to read instructions properly, leads to cells messing up their functional roles and tissues and organs falling apart. 

The question is what causes the loss in information? 

This is where chronic inflammation comes into play. I often describe this process as the Marvel character the Hulk racing around in our body, smashing up cells, and tripping over DNA. This causes damage and a loss of stored information. 

But the Hulk is, for the most part, his harmless alter ego, Bruce Banner, a nerdy scientist who doesn’t cause harm. He stays calm until he gets triggered, and this is analogous to oxygen in our body. We need oxygen to live, it’s a functional part of our metabolism. But it can get amplified and become a superoxide, free radical. Another way to think of it is wildfires burning within us. The more inflammation, the bigger the fire.

What are the major triggers of our internal Hulk?

  1. Refined sugar / processed foods. Essentially the Standard American Diet (SAD)
  2. Alcohol/ Drugs
  3. Sleep deprivation
  4. Stress

Strategies to reduce inflammation:

  1. Reducing inflammatory triggers (refined sugars, processed foods, alcohol, toxic substances).
  2. Protect your body with high levels of antioxidants found in colourful fruits and vegetables.
  3. Intermittent fasting – recent studies are confirming that it’s not just what we eat that’s important, but when we eat as well. Fasting (different from starvation), has been shown to activate genes for longevity and is a whole other lever we can pull to increase our lifespan and health span. A future article will delve more deeply into this topic. 
  4. Increasing the number of healthy bacteria – aka the Microbiome we discussed in our previous article here. 

These strategies help protect your cells from damage. Less Hulk, less damage. Avoiding processed foods and added sugars, getting on top of our sleep are powerful ways to reduce the triggers. Loading up on antioxidant rich foods give you an added buffer of protection as these calm down any signs that could trigger the Hulk, or they will get him to change back into Bruce sooner rather than later. 

How would you react if someone told you that you could live into your 100’s remaining healthy and mentally sharp? This may sound like science fiction, but scientists like leading aging expert David Sinclair, a professor in genetics at Harvard Medical School, says this is more fact than fiction. In his book, Lifespan: Why We Age, and Why We Don’t Have To, he spells out why we should reframe the way we think of ourselves across time, sharing evidence to the theme that aging as we know it doesn’t have to be so. His quote “A painful descent into old age isn’t something you have to accept” resonates so well.

In short, inflammation is an accelerator of aging. The more we inflame ourselves, the quicker we break down. If we incorporate small practices that protect us from inflammation, we can keep ourselves running better…and for longer. 

References

Sinclair, D. (2019). Lifespan: The revolutionary science of why we age – and why we don’t have to. Atria Books.

Chung, H. Y., Kim, D. H., Lee, E. K., Chung, K. W., Chung, S., Lee, B., Seo, A. Y., Chung, J. H., Jung, Y. S., Im, E., Lee, J., Kim, N. D., Choi, Y. J., Im, D. S., & Yu, B. P. (2019). Redefining Chronic Inflammation in Aging and Age-Related Diseases: Proposal of the Senoinflammation Concept. Aging and disease, 10(2), 367–382. https://doi.org/10.14336/AD.2018.0324

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6457053/
Categories
For your Info Performance Recommendations Resources Tips

Three Things I Never Knew About Inflammation

Tim Irvine

This article falls into the category of ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’.

Presenting to companies over the last two years has provided me the opportunity to have a passenger seat to some incredibly bright people form Totum who have presented their expertise to thousands. It has been like being in a university class you just can’t fall asleep in. Although I consider myself an expert, I also consider myself a realist and the older I get the less I think I know. Through all of this, one area that I have had my eyes opened is nutrition. 

I’ve become fascinated by inflammation, to the point I’ve sat our kids down for ‘the talk’, but instead of it being about the birds and the bees, it was about inflammation. Even with decades of experience, the knowledge has influenced me so much that I’ve changed my eating, my sleep, I’m moving more, and I’m more focused on avoiding things that contribute to inflammation. I’m not quite ready to start The C.A.I, (Church of Anti-Inflammation), but I’m close.

Using my somewhat ‘expert’ background, combined with this important new information the layman in me has learned, I’d like to try and convert you to my new religion.

Here are three key things I think you need to know about inflammation

  1. Inflammation makes you old
  2. Inflammation makes you sore
  3. Inflammation makes you sick

With the help of some of those incredibly bright people, I will dive a bit deeper into each of these topics, but for now, I’ll highlight some of the reasons we get inflamed.

Acute inflammation is generally good. You scrape your knee and an inflammatory response to heal the cut is triggered.

Chronic inflammation is the one you need to avoid. It damages cells and is the road to many chronic diseases. It can be caused by auto immune disorders, exposure to certain chemicals, or acute inflammation that never heals properly. Besides these, the body of evidence around lifestyle factors is growing and it’s clear, certain things we do on a day-to-day basis pre-dispose us to more inflammation.

In an article from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the following are identified as lifestyle factors that have been shown to contribute to inflammation:

  • Being overweight
  • Consuming too many bad fats (think trans fat) and not enough good fats (think omega 3)
  • Eating too many refined carbohydrates (most packaged foods in the grocery store)

We also know being chronically stressed, under slept, or consuming sugary foods and beverages (yes, alcohol is included here) will also contribute to an inflamed body.

The bottom line is inflammation is bad and anti-inflammation is good.

It’s time to start putting out the fires.

And check out the additional articles on inflammation making you old, sore and sick to find out how this is happening and what you can do about it.

Categories
All For your Info Performance Recommendations Resources Success Story

Could Our Instincts Unlock Our Health and Happiness?

Part 1 of 3 – How To Cope Well Well In Our Modern Society

By: Dr. Stacy Irvine, DC

 Have you ever wondered why certain behaviours and actions happen before you even have a chance to think about them? Or why do certain feelings and drives return even though you do everything in your power to control them? This is exactly how our instincts work in our everyday lives.  If we were able to understand them even just a bit better, we could hopefully harness these powerful pathways for good.

What if the answers to unlocking better habits and performance were within us all along?  Maybe we are just ignoring them as we spend endless minutes diving deep into our social media, or late-night bingeing the latest Netflix series.  Is it possible that alcohol, food or even prescription drugs are enabling us to numb our senses and instincts in a way that allows us to manage and cope better within our 20th-century lifestyles?

I recently listened to a fascinating interview of a researcher, Rod Phillips, who was discussing both the positive and negative impacts of alcohol in modern society.  Part of the discussion was around the idea that when human beings are placed in stressful situations, for example flying in a plane, consumption of alcohol can help alleviate anxiety. My recent book, Your Better Instincts, explores some similar concepts about when “humans are placed in stressful situations” we often reach for ways to dull our senses or distract ourselves.  Unfortunately, most of these distractions have a negative impact on our long-term health.  You could argue that our sedentary, screen-filled work environments lead to increased stress, and it is possible our coping mechanisms have just not caught up to the fast pace of technology. Could it be that our continued success might be our downfall?  We have invented so many ways to digitize our lives, create comfort, and reduce effort, but I am worried we may have tipped the scales too far in one direction.  We may have outperformed ourselves and are now paying a huge price in our health.

In our extremely busy, highly connected lifestyles, we are ignoring many of our basic instinctual patterns. We develop our instincts as we age and navigate life. Instincts are responsible for our survival as a species, and they are the amazing attributes that separate us from machines.  Spending time in nature, connecting with friends, moving daily as much as possible, are all proven techniques that allow us to thrive as healthy and happy humans.  By realizing these ancient patterns are within us, it will help us understand how best to use them in real life.  When we develop our Instincts to their full potential, we can spend less time avoiding and distracting ourselves from the world around us.  Finding our way back, moving away from distraction, toward awareness could be the easiest way to live our happiest and healthiest “In the Moment” lives.

Categories
Fitness For your Info Performance Recommendations Resources Success Story Tips

HOW MOVEMENT STRENGTHENS IMMUNITY 

Tamara Kung, ND

With all this talk about protecting ourselves from viral infections, many of us are seeking the best ways to support our immune system.


Our immune system is a potent world of strong, frontline defenses, and highly specialized backup troops. 

While we have many drugs that are effective at stopping bacterial infections (antibiotics), drugs for the more prevalent viral infections, are lacking. Why? Because bacteria are easier to target. They look very different from our own cells. Viruses, however, are sneaky, and they infect our cells and effectively turn our own cells against us. So having medicine that targets viruses, means they target us too, making antiviral drugs riskier, and something we deploy only after careful consideration once we factor in the serious side effects that result. This is where your medical professional comes in.

So how do we effectively fight against viral infections without the elevated risk? A strong immune system. One of the best ways we can enhance our own immune system’s effectiveness is through movement. Why is this seemingly boring, and redundant answer an untapped and often unrecognized immune enhancer?

The answer relates to a parallel system that runs throughout our body that is like our circulatory system. Instead of blood, this track is used by immune cells, and it is critical for full force activation of your immune defenses! It is called the lymphatic system. While the circulatory system has the heart to pump fluid, movement is what helps those immune cells get to where they need to be.

The lymphatic system is like a superhighway where your immune cells communicate with each other to keep updated on what’s happening. If it’s flowing well, and there are no traffic jams, information can be relayed quickly, which is what we need. Especially if our body gets breached with a harmful virus. We don’t want any delays here as this will give the virus lots of time to replicate and cause more serious damage. This is why regular movement is so important, and any kind of movement matters. Typical gym workouts, running, sports, but also stretching, rolling your head from side to side, getting up for a glass of water, taking stairs, brushing your teeth, and doing air squats. Any activity that stretches and squishes your muscles and organs acts as a pump and is an effective way to improve the movement of lymphatic fluid

As an example, here is what happens when an immune cell notices a viral infection in your lungs. Initially, the immune cell swallows up the virus, destroys it into small pieces, and carries the remnants of the virus as proof. It travels along the lymphatic system superhighway where it will be able to alert your immune system’s big guns (B & T cells) and tells them to wake up and get over to the lungs. These highly effective immune cells then travel to the battlefield. If we can pump this fluid at a greater rate, then we get faster communication, activation, and response.

The second key to the lymphatic system are lymph nodes. We often notice these as annoying lumps swelling up under our jawline or neck when we’re sick. Your lymph nodes are like megacities, where immune cells congregate after their highway journey. It’s where they meet each other and sit down to communicate what’s happening and alert your B & T cells to gather up their troops and move to battle.

Much of our lymph nodes are situated in our neck, shoulders, elbows, abdomen, hips, and knees. Your body’s clever way of maximizing the impact of movement (like doing squats, or something that feels as good a head roll, or shoulder stretch) as it keeps the immune cities flowing and prevents congestion. 

So keep those highways open and flowing by pumping your body. You will be helping to activate and “boost” your immune system’s efficiency and effectiveness on a daily basis!


Reference:
Immune: A journey into the mysterious system that keeps you alive. Philipp Dettmer.