Does Air Travel Give You a Headache?

I'm not talking about the long lines, the tedious security checks, the bad food, or the tight seats. Flying all by itself triggers headaches in many people. Up to six percent of the population suffer headaches when they fly. That may not sound like a lot, but worldwide, that means hundreds of millions of people deal with flying-related headaches every year.

If you count yourself among those numbers, then I'm sure you would welcome some relief.

Changes in pressure, poor air quality, tension, and dehydration can all trigger a nasty headache when you travel. Fortunately, you can do things to counter each, and eliminate the frequency and severity of flight-related headaches.

Pressure changes: The changing pressure that comes with extreme altitude changes likely is the most common cause of air-travel headaches. Chewing gum during ascent and descent can help relieve pressure in the ears. You can also pack a cool compress to help relieve sinus pressure. Adding a few drops of lavender essential oil to the compress can help as well.

Air Quality: Air quality presents a tougher challenge. You have to breathe and you can't change the air quality on the plane. But you can take an immune booster that will help counter some of the affects of air quality. Vitamin C is a good choice. Also, get as much fresh air before and immediately after your flight as you can.

Tension: Travel stress is a big factor in triggering headaches. Take a few moments before take off to relax. Pay close attention to the tension in your jaw and neck. Consciously relax those muscles. Also bring along a few luxury items to help you relax—a shade for your eyes, a good book or magazine, a couple of bags of your favorite tea, and some of your favorite snacks.

Dehydration: Too little water is another common travel headache culprit. It's also the easiest to prevent. Make sure you drink water frequently before and during your flight. Rather than drink a lot of water at once, drink several small glasses throughout the day so that your body stays constantly hydrated.

If you take these steps and still have headaches, taking an acetaminophen can help—just make sure you eat something first.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

Two Ways to Improve Your Cancer Outcome

There's no doubt that cancer is a devastating disease. The treatments are difficult. They make you sick and tired. The disease itself is painful. You feel exhausted all the time. And there are no guarantees that all the suffering you go through to get better will actually work.

A new study gives cancer patients two new tools to help them cope.

Researchers found that people who are able to maintain their optimism while undergoing treatment cope much better with pain than those who feel frustrated or pessimistic most of the time. They also found that people who take control of their environment don't have less fatigue.

Now, I realize that saying, "Be optimistic," is a lot easier than actually being optimistic. One of the best ways to increase your optimism is to focus on the things in your life that you are grateful for. You can do this in a number of ways. You can take five minutes in the morning and write down all the things you are grateful for right at that moment or you can spend ten minutes in the evening fixing your thoughts on one thing that has made you feel grateful during the day.

Another way to boost your optimism is to continue to make plans for the future. When you're fighting against cancer, it's tempting to put everything in your life on hold. Doing so is understandable, but it can also make you feel a little like you've lost your purpose… and your sense of purpose is closely linked to how optimistic you feel.

Gaining mastery over your environment is a little bit easier. I suggest you start by making a list of everything in your environment that is driving your crazy on some level. Whether it's the leaking faucet, the cluttered closet, or the peeling paint on the windowsill… if it's something you're tolerating because you haven't found the time to fix it, then put it on the list. Next enlist your friends and family to work through the list and help you get your environment in the shape you want it to be in.

After that, take some time to set some boundaries between you and your caretaker and if you're so inclined come up with a schedule that you think will help you to cope.

Fighting cancer is a difficult struggle. If you can reduce your pain and fatigue levels, that's a big win. It certainly can't hurt to try these two strategies and see if they make a difference for you.


Stay well,
Meghan Krohn

Grilling Your Steak Might Make it Cancerous…

But you don't need to worry—there's a way around it.

Most everybody enjoys a good grilled steak in the summer. Or grilled chicken. Or grilled pork. Grilled meat is just a summertime favorite. Unfortunately, it has some drawbacks.

When you cook meat at a high temperature, like you do in grilling, the heat affects and changes the amino acids. It creates compounds called heterocyclic amines, or HCAs for short. The problem is that researchers suspect that HCAs contribute to cancer.

So how do you enjoy your meat without worrying that you going to put yourself into an early grave? The answer is simple and tasty.

Marinating your meat in a marinade rich in antioxidants reduces the formation of HCAs by as much as 88%.

When you make a marinade, the choices are endless. You just want to be sure to include some ingredients that are good sources of antioxidants. Tomato or lime base marinades are both good choices. The acids in both help to tenderize the meat and add a great flavor—just don't soak your meat too long or the acids can make it mushy.

Whatever marinade you make, be sure to include plenty of herbs and spices. Most herbs and spices are great sources of antioxidants. They'll keep carcinogens from forming as you cook, and they'll make your next meal tasty, too.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

A New Way to Relieve Back Pain

Back pain is the pits. You never realize how important your back is to every little movement you make until its hurt and you can barely move at all.

Millions of people in the U.S. live with chronic back pain. Every day they ache and they have to adjust the way the move to limit their pain. If you've injured your back, you know what its like. The pain isn't unbearable, but it seems like it's never-ending.

Researchers have found that a method called the Alexander technique is an effective way to relieve chronic back pain and to get you feeling pain free. This technique was more effective than exercise or massage therapy. Patients who combined the Alexander technique with exercise tended to experience the most complete and long-lasting relief for their pain.

When you injure your back, it affects the way you move. To minimize the pain, you naturally compensate by altering your movement. This is normal enough, but it actually can make your back heal into the wrong position. That's when chronic pain starts.

The Alexander technique helps you to relearn proper posture and movement and retrains your bones and muscles so that they become properly aligned and then stay that way.

This training combined with an exercise program improved pain levels and movement in patients, and the improvements were still in place a year later—even with as few as six Alexander lessons. Exercise alone or massage therapy don't have near the staying power, with patients finding themselves in pain again after three months.

You can find a local Alexander technique practitioner by visiting the website for the American Society for the Alexander Technique.

Stay well,

Meghan Krohn

Your Skin Care Regimen Might Not be Safe

In a recent study, researchers wanted to determine if adding caffeine to a topical moisturizing cream would help protect against skin cancer. To make certain they would get accurate results, the research team tested the moisturizer by itself first to see if it promoted or inhibited cancerous growths.

What they discovered surprised them.

They found that the four moisturizers they tested promoted skin cancer in mice. While it's true that mice aren't humans, the results are still startling. It may be that the moisturizer you use to help heal after a sunburn and to help keep your skin looking youthful is actually hurting you.

Of the four moisturizers that researchers tested, the least harmful one still increased skin cancer tumor growth by 24%--the worst almost doubled it!

It's important to take good care of your skin. Your skin helps to protect you from all the toxins of the outside world. It works hard for you. The least you can do in return is give it the care it needs.

Your skin does need a daily moisturizer. Whether you are a man or a woman, a daily moisturizer will help keep your skin looking young and smooth as you age… and who doesn't want that?

But clearly, the moisturizer you choose is important. Pick something that is as natural as possible. One with ingredients that you can pronounce is good. Personally, I use a pure aloe vera gel each day with good results.

When it comes to skin care, natural is better. There's no point in caring for your skin if the products you use are going to put you at higher risk for skin cancer.

Stay well,
Heather Robwell

Your Eye Doctor Might Save Your Life

Heart disease continues to be the leading killer among both men and women. It claims more than half a million lives every year.

With any chronic disease, whether its heart disease or cancer, the earlier you realize there is a problem, the better off you're going to be. Early detection gives you and your doctor a chance to make lifestyle changes that can make a big difference in how long and how well you live.

With heart disease, it may be your eye doctor who finds the first clue that there's a problem. A certain eye condition called retinopathy may actually point to the very early stages of heart disease.

In retinopathy, the tiny blood vessels within your eye become damaged. It may just be a matter of time before other vessels and your arteries are under attack. In fact, early research suggests that people with retinopathy are twice as likely to die from heart disease over the course of 12 years than people without the condition.

This sounds daunting, but it's actually good news. Knowing what retinopathy means gives you a very early warning about your heart health… and it gives you plenty of time to make important changes that can reverse heart disease before it starts affecting your health.

To take advantage of the early detection that retinopathy can give you, you should visit your eye doctor for an exam each year. You should be doing this anyway—plenty of eye diseases can silently steal your sight. You can protect your vision by catching these diseases early. And now it turns out, you can protect your heart, too.

Of course, you should continue seeing your regular doctor, as well. Between the two of them, you're better equipped than ever to catch and respond to early signs of heart trouble.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

When Fat Matters… and When it Doesn’t

People obsess over their body size. Whether they are worried about their weight because of how they look or because of how it affects their health, people everywhere are concerned about weight loss.

When it comes to fat though, some fat matters more than others. Many people—maybe you—rely on the body mass index to determine if they are at a healthy weight. But the body mass index isn’t reliable for everyone. If you have a low percentage of body fat, even if your body mass measurement is high, you are healthier than someone with high body fat and a “healthy” BMI.

Researchers have found that some of the most dangerous fat in your body is the fat that collects around your organs. Especially your heart.

Researchers from Wake Forest University found that people with the highest amount of fat around their hearts were more than four times as likely to show signs of heart disease, including hardening arteries.

So how to you get rid of fat deposits around your organs?

Well, diet isn’t enough. You have to exercise. To reduce fat, high intensity exercise is best. The easiest way to do a high intensity workout is to do an interval workout. Warm up for five minutes or so. Just a walk around the block will do. Then exert yourself hard for a minute or two. Jumping jacks, jumping rope, or sprinting are all easy, free ways to get your heart rate up. After working hard for a minute or two, go for another walk around the block—a little more briskly than your warm up. Repeat the exertion period followed by a walk two or three more times, and then cool down for two or three minutes. That’s it. Your done. In all, this kind of workout only takes fifteen or twenty minutes, but it can make a huge difference in the health or your heart… and your other organs, too.

Stay well,
Meghan Krohn

Protect Your Brain—Eat Fish

The debate about whether or not fish is a healthy food rages on. On one side of the argument, supporters of fish say that the omega-3s are very good for your heart and your brain. On the other side, nay-sayers express concern about high levels of mercury in fish that may harm the brain and nervous system.

Those on the side of fish as a healthy food choice scored big this month.

Researchers are discovering just how fish works to enhance your health. They found that people who eat three servings of baked, broiled, or poached fish each week have fewer lesions on their brain.

A lesion is an area of damaged tissue. You don't experience any severe symptoms when a lesion forms, but over time it can affect your memory and your problem-solving abilities. It can also increase your chances of having a stroke.

People who eat plenty of fish—especially tuna, salmon, and other kinds of fish rich in omega-3s—lower their risk of brain lesions by 26%. Their brains also undergo fewer changes as they age.

Mercury is a concern, but it's one that you can control.

Sardines are a good source of omega-3s that aren't high in mercury. Wild Alaskan salmon is also low in mercury. Tuna is higher in mercury, but canned light tuna is safe to eat once or twice a week.

By eating more fish you can give your body benefits that far outweigh the risks… especially if you make smart choices about what kinds of fish you eat.

Stay well,
Heather Robwell

Supplements to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Lowering your blood pressure is one of the best things you can do for you body. Lower blood pressure puts less stress on your arteries and that means your arteries are less likely to become damaged. Healthier arteries mean a healthier heart and brain.

If you lower your blood pressure you'll reduce your risks for heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's.

You can lower your blood pressure by taking three natural supplements.

The first is potassium. People who eat the most fruits and vegetables have the highest levels of potassium. They are also very unlikely to have high blood pressure. The American Heart Association recommends that you get 4.7 grams of potassium a day. Most people get about 2.5 to 3 grams from dietary sources. You can boost your potassium levels by eating more fruits and vegetables and by choosing a multivitamin that includes at least a gram of potassium.

The second supplement is garlic. A review of research found that garlic supplements are as effective at lowering blood pressure as many prescription drugs. Six hundred to 900 mg a day of garlic can reduce your blood pressure by more than eight points. The active ingredient in garlic is allicin. This supplemental dose contains the same amount of allicin as a half of clove of garlic.

The third supplement you can take to lower our blood pressure is hawthorn berry. Hawthorn berry extract is an overall heart tonic. It helps to open your blood vessels. More blood reaching your heart gives your heart more energy. It encourages your heart to maintain a normal rhythm, and of course, it helps to control blood pressure.

Taking these three supplements can help you maintain normal blood pressure. And that can help you avoid high blood pressure—and dangerous high blood pressure medications—in the future.

To your good health,
Danny Wallace