☀️ Good morning. Happy Thursday! Today is November 10, 2022 and this is your weekly health update.
✍️ Quote of the Day: “Health is not valued till sickness comes.” – Thomas Fuller
❤️ Brought To You By: Collagen: Did you know the word collagen is derived from the Greek word KÓLLA meaning glue? Often referred to as the “glue” that holds your body together, collagen is present in connective tissue throughout your body, including the skin. It’s made of three amino acid strands wound together that form a triple-helix. These triple-helixes form collagen fibers, which are the main component of connective tissue in your body.*
Digestion
Can Yoga Help Aid Digestion? 9 Poses to Try
When you have digestive issues, you may want to find relief fast.
There’s growing interest in finding natural relief for digestive issues through yoga and gentle movement. Many people tout the benefits of yoga for digestive relief, so you may be wondering whether you should try it.
This article investigates how yoga might aid digestion and lists several poses you can try.
How yoga may help digestion
The term “digestion” typically refers to the breakdown of food to provide your body with nutrients and expel waste products.
However, many people also use the term to refer to any symptoms that arise from digestion, such as gas, bloating, discomfort, and stool type and frequency.
The gut-brain axis is a communication system of nerves and biochemical signals that travel in the blood, connecting the digestive system to the brain.
Through this system, your gut can directly react to psychological and physical stress with symptoms such as stomach aches, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, and changes in appetite and digestion.
People believe yoga aids in digestive health by reducing stress, increasing circulation, and promoting physical movement, or motility, of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
In particular, those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may find relief from yoga. Scientists think IBS results from overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system, the stress system of your body.
The condition has an array of symptoms, such as gas, bloating, diarrhea, and constipation.
In a 2018 study, 208 participants with IBS followed either a low-FODMAP diet or did yoga for 12 weeks. By the end, both groups showed improvements in IBS symptoms, suggesting yoga may play a complementary role in IBS treatment
To read the full article, click here.
Energy
What’s causing me to be so tired?
Here’s a few possible reasons…
1 – Iron deficiency – also called anemia, is a condition that can make you feel extremely run-down and exhausted. That’s because iron is what produces red blood cells, and without enough red blood cells your blood can’t supply your organs with the amount of oxygen they need to function properly. Other symptoms of this condition include shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and pallor.
Iron deficiency is common in women who still menstruate and about 1 in 20 men and postmenopausal women.
2 – Sleep apnea is a condition where your throat may narrow or even close for 10 seconds or more as you sleep. This can make it difficult for you to breathe, causing you to wake often at night as your body reacts to the stopped airflow.
Waking often at night can make you feel tired throughout the daytime hours. Sleep apnea may also cause you to snore and have a drop in your blood oxygen levels. This condition is more common in overweight, middle-aged men.
3 – Depression – Tiredness is a common symptom of depression. Depression can leave you feeling drained of all your energy, and it may even make it difficult for you to fall asleep or cause you to wake up early each day. Other symptoms of this mood disorder, which include feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, low sex drive, and aches and pains, can range from mild to severe.
4 – Underactive thyroid – A common symptom of hypothyroidism is feeling tired. The symptoms of this condition develop slowly, so you might not notice any right away. You can also experience weight gain, depression, or muscle aches and pains.
A blood test can help your doctor measure your hormone levels for a proper diagnosis. Underactive thyroid is more common in women and older adults.
To read the full article and see the full list, click here.
Heart Health
5 Foods For A Healthy Heart
What you eat is a big part of staying healthy after a heart attack. There are a few diets that have proven heart benefits, like the Mediterranean and DASH diets. But many of them feature a lot of the same foods. When you head to the grocery store, make sure these items make it into your cart on a regular basis.
Salmon – This fish is packed with omega-3 fatty acids, a type of unsaturated fat that keeps your heart and blood vessels healthy. When possible, buy wild, organic salmon. It has more omega-3s than farm-raised fish. Other good choices are sardines, mackerel, herring, trout, and tuna. Aim for 2-3 servings a week.
Olive Oil – This oil’s nutrients include lignans, part of a group of antioxidants called polyphenols. They fight inflammation, a process that damages your heart and blood vessels. Olive oil is also rich in plant-based omega-3 fatty acids. It’s likely that the oil’s polyphenols and omega-3s work together to protect your heart.
Beans – They’re high in soluble fiber, which helps sweep cholesterol from your blood. That can limit the plaque buildup in arteries that leads to heart attacks. They come in a rainbow of colors — white, black, red kidney, green lima, navy, and more. If you buy them canned, make sure the label says there’s no added salt. Better yet, make your own from dried beans. Many cook quickly in boiling water after you’ve soaked them for a few hours or overnight.
Berries – Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries all get high marks for heart health because of their various polyphenols, the antioxidants that fight inflammation. They also give the fruits their bright colors. Berries are low enough in calories that you can make them your go-to snack every day.
Leafy Greens – Studies show that nitrates, naturally found in spinach, chard, kale, and similar veggies, can play a role in heart health. Your body converts them to nitric oxide and uses it to boost blood flow and keep arteries clear. Beets and radishes also are good sources of nitrates. A salad or a side dish of greens can help you hit the recommended five servings of vegetables a day.
To read the full article, click here.
Immune System
Two Immune System Response Types
The Innate Immune System Response
When an invasion occurs, your innate immune system is the first to respond. It recognizes invaders by their antigens—unique proteins on the surface of the invading cell. Every cell has its own specific antigens. The cells that make up your body carry “self-antigens,” which are used by your immune system to distinguish self (you) from other (invader).
Your innate immune system utilizes several defense mechanisms to help protect you from foreign invaders. Skin cells and epithelial cells lining the openings of your body form tight junctions that make it difficult for invaders to get in. Hairs in your nasal cavity trap invaders, which prevents the invaders from moving into your lungs. Your body uses chemical factors, such as those contained in mucus or the acid in your stomach, to ward off invaders. The commensal (or good) bacteria that cover the surface of your skin and digestive tract provide another layer of protection.
The innate immune system response also activates certain immune system cells, which include neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells, and NK cells. These cells capture and destroy incoming invaders and send signals to other immune system components, which activates a more targeted immune system response against invaders.
The Adaptive Immune System Response
The role of your adaptive immune system is two-fold:
– It provides a second wave of immune system defense and works alongside your innate immune system to generate a more targeted response to incoming invaders.
– It generates immune system memory cells (more on these later).
An adaptive immune system response is initiated when invaders in your tissues are brought back to your lymph nodes by a group of cells called antigen-presenting cells (APCs). There are three types of APCs: dendritic cells, macrophages, and B cells.
When APCs encounter an invader, they ingest it, break it into pieces, and attach its antigens to their surface. The antigens presented on the surface of these cells serve as a signal that activates components of your adaptive immune system.
To read the full article, click here.
Joint Pain
Exercise increases the body’s own Endocannabinoids which reduces chronic inflammation
In a new study, published in Gut Microbes, experts from the University of Nottingham found that exercise intervention in people with arthritis, did not just reduce their pain, but it also lowered the levels of inflammatory substances (called cytokines). It also increased levels of endocannabinoids. Interestingly, the way exercise resulted in these changes was by altering the gut microbes.
Exercise is known to decrease chronic inflammation, which in turn causes many diseases including cancer, arthritis and heart disease, but little is known as to how it reduces inflammation.
A group of scientists, led by Professor Ana Valdes from the School of Medicine at the University, tested 78 people with arthritis. Thirty-eight of them carried out 15 minutes of muscle strengthening exercises every day for six weeks, and 40 did nothing.
At the end of the study, participants who did the exercise intervention had not only reduced their pain, but they also had more microbes in their guts of the kind that produce anti-inflammatory substances, lower levels of cytokines and higher levels of endocannabinoids.
The increase in endocannabinoids was strongly linked to changes in the gut microbes and anti-inflammatory substances produced by gut microbes called SCFAS. In fact, at least one third of the anti-inflammatory effects of the gut microbiome was due to the increase in endocannabinoids.
To read the full article, click here.
Skincare
Studies show how skin forms differently across the body
Two new UC Davis Health studies explored how differences in skin composition may lead to dermatological conditions, such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.
“Skin does not have a uniform composition throughout the body,” said Emanual Maverakis, professor of dermatology, molecular medical microbiology at UC Davis and senior author on both studies. “Different skin characteristics at different body sites may affect the skin’s susceptibility to certain diseases.”
Until recently, little was known about the cellular and molecular processes behind these differences. In the first study, researchers showed the mechanisms that lead to these structural changes in the skin.
The epidermis has a “brick and mortar” structure: molecules like ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids make up the “mortar,” and cells called keratinocytes are the “bricks.”
The researchers used single-cell sequencing to characterize how the keratinocytes differ at different body sites. They also used targeted molecular profiling to characterize the molecules that form the “mortar” between the keratinocytes. They then examined how these differences in gene expression matched the compositional differences in the lipid and protein structures across body sites. These experiments explained why the skin looks so different at different body sites.
The compositional differences in the skin’s lipids and proteins across different body sites may also explain why different skin diseases are found at different body sites. While characterizing the specific lipid alterations associated with various skin diseases, the researchers discovered that lipids stuck to a piece of tape applied to the skin were sufficient to diagnose a patient with a particular skin disease.
“These discoveries will lead to non-diagnostic tests for common dermatologic disease” said co-lead author, Project Scientist Alexander Merleev.
“These differences are also relevant to the future design of skin care products,” said Stephanie Le, dermatology resident and co-lead author of the study. “They demonstrate how skin care products should be specifically formulated to match the particular body site that they will be applied to.”
To read the full article, click here.
Collagen
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To Your Health,
TheTinySpoonCo Content Team
Our Mission: To help 1M+ adults remain strong, healthy, active, and independent as they age.
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