Happiness: The Data is In
Sex, exercise and gardening, according a 75 year longitudinal study, the Happiness Project, are the most common activities that bring people happiness. My husband recently decided to join in with the yard work and discovered he likes it. Now we have all three! It’s no surprise that social media ranked last, but work rated second to last, a testimony to the sorry state of many work cultures these days. Psychotherapist Jude LaClaire writes about this and other research on happiness in Evolving Magazine.
What’s New in My Smoothie? Green Tea
My husband is a green tea aficionado. He loves to order tea directly from Japan and is even a member of a Japanese tea CSA. Even after multiple brews, a lot of nutrition remains in the leaves. So, in the smoothie they go, enriching it with the l-theanine and catechins that one expects from green tea, but also fiber, vitamins A, B, and C, and minerals one might not. Also consider using brewed green tea as the liquid base for the smoothie then tossing in the leaves.
The Origin of Alzheimer’s Disease: Poor Brain Detox
After over 200 drugs failed to treat Alzheimer’s disease, a group of scientists quietly began searching for other causes. Scientists at New York University Langone Medical Center now have evidence that the brain loses the ability to clear its own waste. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, found that lysosomes, small sacs found in every cell that breakdown, remove and recycle everyday metabolic waste, have decreased function. The lysosomes become engorged with waste. Some of that waste is amyloid beta, the substance the forms the plaques associated with the disease.
When I hear about discoveries like this, my wheels start turning. Brain detoxification can be improved with osteopathic treatment. Anesthesia, labor and delivery and any head impact that causes at least a dazed feeling can cause brain sag, a diminished ability of the brain to suspend itself in the cerebral spinal fluid. Brain sag can cause poor circulation of the brain lymphatics, called glymphatics, which are key to clearing waste from the brain. It can cause problems at magnitudes too small to identify on imaging. Brain sag is a palpatory diagnosis in this case. Interested? Contact our office.
The clinical research in functional medicine is way ahead of the basic science. Dale Bredesen, MD has developed a protocol that reverses mild cognitive decline and improves the function of people with more severe cognitive decline. It looks at many causes and addresses them mostly with lifestyle and nutrition. If you are concerned about cognitive decline, I suggest you check out his books. If your cognition has declined, search for Bredesen practitioners that offer telemedicine. I am unaware of anyone offering the protocol in our region.
Dr. Bethany Klug has practiced holistic and functional medicine since 2003, after it resolved health challenges that conventional medicine could not address for her. She is known for taking time to listen and to tease out the root causes that when addressed lead to more vibrant health. The name of her practice, HealthSpan, was inspired by her wish for everyone to enjoy lifelong vibrant health, instead of a long life plagued by chronic disease. She is known as an osteopath, and for her skill in natural medicine and bioidentical hormone replacement. Her practice is located in Prairie Village, KS, a suburb of Kansas City. Learn more at HealthSpanKC.com.
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