Health Tip for the week of September 5th- Stretching your muscles.
If a muscle isn't used enough, it tends to become shorter, tighter and much weaker. Often, this happens gradually over time, leaving many adults vulnerable to connective injuries, back pain or chronic muscle overuse/overstress.

A regular flexibility program (that isolates and gently stretches tight muscles) can help correct the problem, while improving your overall posture and balance in the process. Stretching works primarily by causing the elastic connective tissue (called the fascia) surrounding a muscle to lengthen slightly. Repeated stretching (on a daily or near-daily basis) can make the entire muscle longer.

For a stretching session to have a permanent lengthening effect, however, the connective tissue must be warmed up first, either through physical activity or by a heating device. Many experts suggest stretching after a brief warm up.

For the best results, you should do any serious stretching during or immediately after your aerobic workouts--or just after taking a hot bath or shower. Stretching "cold" before a workout will produce a short-term increase in muscle length (helpful for "working the kinks out" before you get started)--but may not be as effective as stretching after a warm up.
-SOURCE: Inteli-Health, John Hopkins University, June 1999

Health Tip for the week of September 12th-  Using Tylenol to combat a hangover?
Tylenol and many over-the-counter pain relievers and cold medications contain the main ingredient, Acetaminophen.  Which should not be combined with alcohol.  Acetaminophen can be very useful in reducing pain, but when combined with alcohol, acetaminophen may cause serious liver damage.

Do not use any form of acetaminophen with alcohol and never exceed the recommended dose of acetaminophen.  Especially avoid using acetaminophen to fight hangovers, since the hangover is caused by excess alcohol in your body.  Usually only time is the best thing for symptoms of a hangover.
-SOURCE: Real Age Information, September 1999

Weekly Health Tip for September 19th-Time to Increase Daily Vitamin C Intake?
We've all heard about the benefits of vitamin C, but how much is enough?  The answer might be more than you originally thought.

In April, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a paper alerting consumers to the news that the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences is revising its recommendations for vitamin C intake. The revision is required because since the current 60mg Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) was set in 1989, extensive new biomechanical, molecular, epidemiologic and clinical data have become available.

The new recommendations use a series of criteria to determine and estimated average requirement in order to establish a specific RDA for each person.  If the average requirement cannot be determined, the authors suggest that
the recommended amount of vitamin C should now become 200mg-500mg per day from 5 servings of fruits and vegetables (or 100mg per day of a vitamin C supplement) to prevent deficiency.

Ask your doctor of chiropractic to help you determine exactly how much vitamin C and other important nutrients you should be getting each day.
-SOURCE:  Levine M, Ramsey SC, Daruwala R, et al. Criteria and recommendations for vitamin C intake. Journal of the American Medical Association, Apr. 21, 1999;281(15), pp. 1387-94.
 

Weekly Health Tip for September 26th-Contact Lens Wearers Beware
Are you out of sterile solution or want to save money so rinse your contact lenses in store-bought bottled water?  A new study
warns against it.  Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston analyzed 23 brands of noncarbonated bottled water and found that many contain bacteria known to cause contact lens-related keratitis.  This serious condition can lead to permanent
scarring in the eye or permanent blindness through infection of the cornea.

Although bottled water is fine to drink, it is not sterile.  Since your eyes are especially sensitive to infection, using sterile products is important.  To rinse and store your contact lenses, use only a sterile solution made specifically for contact lenses.
-SOURCE:  Real Age Information systems.  September 1999