Melatonin...What's Its Function?

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Melatonin helps build bones and reduces bone loss.  It supports hair growth, promotes immune response, regulates circadian rhythyms in the brain, slows contractions in the stomach and intestines, and increases the release of digestive enzymes.

Fall is Here and Time for Transformation

Fall is a wonderful time of year. The leaves change from green to gold to burnt red and auburn shades - similar to the quadrants of a well-composed piece of music. But unlike the end of a song, life continues on and on, akin to a gradient circle of color. Fall is the time between the extremely heated and passionate summer and the frigid, icy, colorless winter. Just like its cousin, Spring, Fall is a time of transition. Cool mornings give way to warm afternoons, followed by chilly evening breezes. The clouds at sunset hang lower in the sky as the earth bends to reposition itself against the sun.  This is the time of year to embrace change. We change our clothes in the closet, we adapt to the receding sunlight and shortening of the days. We exchange our sandals and sunhats for closed shoes and berets. We begin to crave a bowl of hot soup and a good glass of red wine. We pursue indoor activities more and more.  Fall is the perfect time to plan for the reawakening colors and excitement of Spring. So during the next few months, while you are enjoying the changing colors of the leaves and sky, think about change. Change in terms of better health, less anxiety and stress, a new career, a better relationship with your friends, co-workers and loved ones…whatever it is that you can change in your life to make it better -try to make it happen. Practice those changes in baby steps over the next several months. By the time the warmer weather returns, you might be very surprised how just small adaptations and changes can make such huge differences in your life and the lives of everyone else around you.  Fall is also the time when many are fooled by the Indian summer-like afternoons and forget to take along a sweater, scarf or jacket when they leave home in the morning. This is the beginning of cold and flu season.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  Take care of yourselves and take the time to remember various layers of clothing. Keep the back of your neck and throat covered; protected from the winds. The wind, in Traditional Chinese Medicine is considered to be the cause of 1,000 evils (diseases). And I couldn’t possibly sign off without advising you to schedule an appointment with me for a ‘fall tune-up’ to ensure you can romp and play thru all those great piles of leaves in good health!

Imagination and Play

Imagination and Play...this is a photo of a 40yr old cruddy and broken down Sabrett hotdog cart that was filled with debris and quite an eyesore.  A little bit of imagination and playing around with some spray paint, decals and colorful flowers has now made an ugly eyesore an object of beauty and appreciation for many people.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  In all that you engage in life, take some time for a little bit of imagination.  Explore the countless positive possibilities that can become realities.  You'd be surprised what can happen.  I'm really thrilled that my latest art project came out so lovely; it has put smiles on many faces and a once ugly eyesore now sits pretty and proud for all to appreciate and enjoy!

For The Young Reefer Smokers Out There Today..Better Read This If You Can

Vital Signs, From the NYT Online
Behavior: Young Marijuana Users Pay Cognitive Price, By Roni Caryn Rabin
Published: November 22, 2010

Young adults who started using the drug regularly in their early teens performed significantly worse on tests assessing brain function than did subjects who were at least 16 when they started, scientists reported last week.   The findings led researchers at McLean Hospital to surmise that the developing teenage brain may be particularly vulnerable to the ill effects of marijuana. “We have to understand that the developing brain is not the same as the adult brain,” said Dr. Staci A. Gruber, the paper’s senior author and director of cognitive and clinical neuroimaging at McLean, a Harvard-affiliated hospital in Belmont, Mass.  The study, done in conjunction with brain scans, was small, consisting of 35 chronic marijuana smokers who were 22 years old on average. The subjects were asked to complete an assessment of executive function — the brain processes responsible for planning and abstract thinking, as well as understanding rules and inhibiting inappropriate actions. The test — in which participants were asked to sort cards with different shapes, numbers and colors — is a measure of cognitive flexibility.
At 15, Dr. Gruber said, the brain is still changing, and “the part that modulates executive function is the last part to develop.”
A version of this article appeared in print on November 23, 2010, on page D6 of the National edition.

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  If you're a teenager and you smoke marijuana, you ought to seriously consider quitting the habit.  You really don't people to ask you if  'you're stoned or stupid' would you?  Besides, it's passe', you stink like a skunk and anyone with half a brain can take one look at your hopped up pupils and know your a pothead.  The '60's are over, so get over it!

Change is Good

A dear friend of mine sent me this quotation yesterday.  I thought I'd share it with the masses.  It went like this:
Change requires leaving our comfort zones and plunging headfirst into uncomfortable situations. True, this causes some pain and discomfort for a moment, but it's the quickest path to generating long-term fulfillment.

Today, when challenges overwhelm you, keep going and know there's Light right behind them. ~YB

Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  change one bad habit at a time and you will benefit from not wasting your time, energy and health.  Whether it's cigarette smoking, lack of exercise, poor eating habits, dysfunctional relationships or hazardous practices - get out of the merry-go-round of rote and stop playing a bad game.  In the long run, you'll win, your health will benefit, you'll be happier and those around you will also benefit from your peace.

Fitness Buddies

Sometimes, it's a bit difficult to stay with your fitness program.  Many people join gyms, Weight Watchers, hire personal trainers, nutritionists...just so that the road to wellville isn't a lonesome journey.  The patients that enroll in my wellness program are given an individualized program that encompasses the psychology of wellness to what exercises and food choices over the longrun will create better health and overall wellness in their lives.
Here's Your Healthy Tip of the Day:  There's a SECRET WEAPON that's FREE and readily available for you to use on your fitness journey.  It's called A BUDDY!  What's a buddy?  It's your dog that needs his/her exercise that's the cheapest and most fun exercise machine.  A buddy is a friend who also wants to get healthy and joins you for a pot luck healthy dinner on your rooftop garden, while you both plot your wellness plan for the upcoming week.  Your buddy is someone you see in the park or gym everyday, also alone, who you might engage into a fitness session together.  Your buddy is your personal computer which is a plethora of worldwide information on exercise, nutrition and other healthy information.  Ever go onto Twitter and explore organic food groups?  There are people all over the world willing to share their experiences and knowledge.
Get a buddy and get fit!