Runner’s Edge – Sole Sisters

Sole Sisters  

Running and Optimal Results with Dr. Ana Lara N.D.,

Come out to Runner’s Edge for a brief talk on how to optimize your results.  Dr. Lara will share some simple assessments to determine the main area(s) of concern to help you get the most benefit from your training.  Including nutrition (and nutritional supplements), hormonal impact, injuries, recovery and more.

Monday May 14 at 6:00 pm

Runner’s Edge

More on Sleep…

I am always amazed by the number of patients that tell me they feel great with 5 hours of sleep.  Especially when everything that I have learned and researched indicates that we function sub-optimally with so little sleep.  Now not everyone chooses not to sleep (because they need to do work or study, etc., some have sleep disorders where they would love to sleep and yet are not able to fall asleep).  However, a lot is related to how our body is trained and also to the types of hormones we produce.

The Globe and Mail put out a wonderful article about the importance of sleep (Sleep deprivation is a national epidemic.  And it’s killing us).  It featured the most up-to-date research on sleep and what we seem to be doing as a society.  I must say that as a mom of two young girls I often find it difficult to make sure that I get my full 8hrs.  But when I don’t – I and my family often notice it; my memory and organization are the first affected and then my patience level.  When my girls ‘misbehave’ it is much more difficult for me to stay calm and try to look at the situation from their perspective.

 Keeping this in mind, there are two things that I aim for and suggest to my patients:

1. Aim at going to bed earlier.  Contrary to what we believe – we are able to get to bed earlier if we prioritize it.  More often than not our sleep is disrupted by watching tv – or the need to finish a chore that we think we cannot postpone.  If you are used to watching TV before bed – just be aware that research shows that more than 2 hours of television a day has been associated with sleep disturbances.  So keep that in mind if having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.

2. Use the most helpful night time supplements:

Magnesium: a wonderful mineral that helps with the relaxation of muscle and is also helpful to decrease anxiety.  The best form I have used is Magnelevures.  This powder formula of L-5-oxo-proline is highly absorbable and comes with taurine, glutathione, B1 and B6.  I therefore recommend magnesium to support anxiety, proper calcification of bone (and not soft tissue), hormone balance, pregnancy, support cardiovascular health, to help treat high blood pressure, diabetes and PMS.  Another great formula is Natural Calm Magnesium.  Nutritionally you can obtain magnesium in the following foods: Brown rice, beans, peas, lentils, barley grass, sea vegetables, aloe vera gel, and whole grains.

Biotone EFA: one of my best kept secrets is this very simple yet very powerful fatty acid supplement.  It has a combination of rice bran, soybean (non-GMO), and wheat germ oil used to support and regulate hormonal function.  For any patient that does shift work – this is the most important supplement I can recommend.  It really helps to support the optimal diurnal rhythm of hormones, In particular that of cortisol and growth hormone.  If you have any inflammation, sleep problems, hormonal imbalances or chronic stress you will feel the benefit of this supplement.  I usually prescribe 2,3 and sometimes 4 capsules at bedtime.

Rescue Sleep: this wonderful flower essence remedy is helpful for an over-active, preoccupied mind.  It helps to quiet down the ‘brain chatter’.  I have had very positive feedback with this remedy from men, women and children.  What I have personally noticed is that during times of brain fatigue or when worried this helps me be able to fall asleep and get a more restful sleep.

There are more specific supplements, herbs or remedies that are useful, however – these are the most generally helpful without getting into individualized prescription.

So here is to sweet dreams – all 7-8 hours of it!

Our Future: Part 1

Recently the Globe and Mail posted an article regarding a children’s television show and the effects of watching it.  A research study found that watching even nine minutes of SpongeBob SquarePants can have immediate negative effects on a preschooler’s brain function. This was compared with children who watched a sleepier/less-flashy cartoon or who watched none.  They found that four-year-olds who watched the frenetic show did significantly worse on a series of tests measuring the brain’s executive function (attention, working memory and self-regulation).

The study made me stop and think about children growing up today.  If you are around children, then you know that it is very difficult to try to keep them doing one thing for a length of time.  They usually have a short attention span (naturally – since this develops as they grow) and they have (unfortunately?) been born in a very digital age.

What do I mean by a digital age? Our communication has really changed from what it used to be even 15 years ago.  We have been increasingly conditioned to seek immediate gratification – news, advertising, texting, cell phones, video-conference – these have all led us down the path of instantaneous results and connections.

Children are growing up in an environment where the use of all these is absolutely normal, and it has definitely begun to affect us socially.  Who has not seen or brought a DVD player to a restaurant? Or a video game? Or nowadays a smart phone? We feel the need to entertain our children to try to keep them from misbehaving.  But what are we doing to their brain development and their long-term health?  A conversation with a child can often teach us a lot about their views and feelings – but how used to having a conversation face-to-face are they?  What happened to the art of telling stories?  Children can be mesmerized by an adult telling them a made-up story they can relate to.  To try to get them involved in something other than just a screen would be more interactive.

As adults we really have to reassess our overuse of these tools.  Not only because of the effect that these can have on children but overall how we interact as a society.  These tools have made our society more time efficient and our planet smaller in many ways; they have become a dependency – I can often include myself in that category.  Which worries me for both our present and future health – I find this puts most of us in a constant level of stress; then we require stimulants or calming agents to overcome this response.  Cell phones have been studied to have a definite effect on our brain health.  However, what about the use of computers, television, wireless-everything, microwaves, etc.  I am certain we have only begun to see the effects of these.

What I want to emphasize with this is that there are benefits to the way technology has grown.  But it is how we use this that can greatly affect not only our health (and the health of our future generation) but also the state of our society and the quality of it.

Welcome Dr. Courtney LeCointre N.D.

The Naturopathic Clinic is happy to welcome Dr. Courtney LeCointre N.D. to our team of health care providers.  Dr. LeCointre will be working on Mondays 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Fridays 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.   The clinic will then be open 5 days a week for your convenience and health needs.

Dr. LeCointre in now WELCOMING NEW PATIENTS!

For more information please check out her website www.familynd.ca

Spring Cleaning

Detoxification from Inside Out

There are so many questions that patients have about cleanses and detoxification.  With so many different approaches available, patients often find it difficult to know which is best for them, and whether this is necessary.  This workshop will offer an explanation of what is necessary for detoxification.  We will discuss when it may beneficial and when it may be more harmful.  What different factors need to be considered – including the diet, exercise, sleep and other lifestyle factors that come into play during this time.

Join us at Namaste Yoga Studio after a wonderful yoga class with Linda and then stay for the workshop.

When: Saturday, April 23 from 12:00pm-1:00pm

Where: Namaste Yoga Studio at 10 MacTurnbull Drive, St. Catharines (corner of Vansickle and MacTurnbull in the Brockview Plaza)

Bringing down the Fever?

I recently travelled with my family.  On the day before our flight back home, my youngest daughter had a fever of about 39.5°C (103.1°F).  She mostly wanted to sleep and cuddle.  I was up with her most of the night, making sure she was hydrated and kept track of her fever.  The only thing I used to make her comfortable was a homeopathic remedy – Febriplex, a homeopathic combination to support the immune system during a fever.

She had a fever the following day, around the same temperature for another 10 hours or so (which made it an easy flight because she mostly slept).  Then, just like that, the cold she was fighting seemed to cease and she was back to herself.

I was pleasantly surprised when I read the newspaper 3 days later – there was an article titled, “Hot under the collar” by Marilyn Linton.  It dealt with the benefits of letting a fever progress its normal course, without bringing it down with medications (Ibuprofen, acetaminophen such as Tylenol etc.).

I always recommend to my patients and especially parents of my pediatric patients to let a fever be, without bringing it down.  Most parents have a hard time seeing their child lying around with obvious discomfort.  Yet this is exactly what their bodies need to do to fight an infection.

So what are the benefits of a fever?

Stops and kills microbes – a fever can actually help to stop and even kill bacteria, viruses, etc. – around 39.5°C (103.1°F) there is a bacteriostatic effect (stops bacteria from growing and multiplying) and around 40.5°C (104.9°F) there is a bacteriolytic effect (destroys bacteria – best antibiotic effect).

Stimulates the thyroid – helps to increase the metabolism and helps to eliminate toxins at a faster rate.

Increases circulation – during a fever your heart beats faster and you breathe faster, which leads to an increase in blood flow through your organs – this helps to remove the toxins from the bacteria or virus and circulates white blood cells faster.

Increases liver activity – as above the increase in circulation to the liver increases elimination and thus increases the rate the liver makes antibodies to fight the infection.

Increases the amount of interferon – this white blood cell kills infected cells from bacteria, fungi, viruses and even cancer.

So when is the time to worry or interfere?  If a fever gets higher than 41.1°C  (106°F) then this is potentially dangerous because both healthy and infected cells begin to be destroyed (this has been used as a form of cancer therapy).  When a fever gets this high, I usually recommend to go in a tepid bath or use cold compresses and this is usually enough.

The fear of febrile seizures can be paralyzing if you have ever seen a child convulse with a one.  But it has been researched that this reaction (which can happen when a fever rises too fast) – has no long term effects and there is no correlation of these with epilepsy.  There are some great homeopathic remedies that help to reduce significantly febrile seizures.

A fever definitely creates discomfort. However I usually don’t take anything for it and I know many patients and parents who do the same.  So why not let our children deal with it the same way?  Children need to learn to ‘be sick’ and also learn what they need to do when they are sick – rest, sleep, eat little or nothing at all, and drink fluids.

So the next time that you or your child experience a fever, take the time to let it be and do its action.  Especially with children – their immune system will learn and always be able to respond the way it is meant to.  You will be pleased when the length of their infection is much shorter and they really do recover quite well.

Sleep disorders

Recently a patient reminded me to post something regarding sleep – especially the importance of getting enough of it.  This is one of the most common concerns that patients seem to have.  There are two main forms of sleep disorders that I would like to discuss here.

Sleep onset insomnia – which means that there is a difficulty falling asleep.  Sometimes one can lie in bed without being able to fall asleep anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours.  This form of insomnia is often caused by having a difficult time ‘shutting the body or brain off’.  Patients who work-out late or have caffeine later in the afternoon or who have a hard time slowing their brain enough to rest, are the ones who experience this difficulty the most frequently.  What I usually recommend for this is 1st to slow down your nervous system response – take the time to breathe…deeply.  When you do this you help your nervous system switch-off the sympathetic (‘adrenaline driven’) response.  This also distracts your brain from immediate preoccupations since the focus is on the breath.  2nd is to use diet to increase foods that are rich in tryptophan (an amino acid that is used in the conversion to melatonin – the neurohormone that helps to regulate our sleep-wake cycle).  The foods that contain a high level of tryptophan include egg whites, spirulina, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, turkey and chicken.

The second form of a sleep disorder is disrupted sleep.  This means a person can have a relatively easy time falling asleep, but then wakes up one or several times throughout the night often experiencing the difficulty falling back asleep.  This is often due to an underlying condition.  It can be as simple as poor blood sugar regulation or more complex if it is from pain from another condition.  This is when I prescribe homeopathic, nutritional or herbal remedies most frequently – based on the patient’s history and sensitivity.

The most important point that I like to emphasize is that it is important to be aware of how restful your sleep is or is not – and if it isn’t then when and why are you waking up?

Good night!

Getting out

I remember going to listen to one of my mentors (Dr. Dickson Thom) and he always emphasized that there should be no reason why we should not venture out every single day (even if it is just 15 minutes). Get some light, fresh air and expose ourselves to the elements – connect with our environment. Those were the main points about going out he emphasized.
Now I am one who is known for really, really disliking the cold. But I made a decision this year to really prioritize the important things in my life – and my health is obviously VITAL to me. So I have been doing this – despite our very snowy start this year. Yes – it can be a little dangerous even if you are wearing the proper shoes, coat, gloves and hat! I have a very dear friend who unfortunately fractured her wrist when she slipped in a patch of ice. But I really think that a leisurely stroll is something that poses minimum risk . The fresh air will do you wonders, even if the sun is not shining, you are still going to benefit from some light exposure. If it is snowing you will love the stillness that it brings with it. You’ll breathe a little deeper and come in feeling like your house is too warm! Your circulatory system will thank you for this.
So next time you are struggling deciding what to do – like I mentioned even 15 minutes makes a difference.

Warming up with food

In traditional Chinese Medicine, there is a practice to eat and drink with the season.  This usually follows the nature of our bodies, how we use or conserve our energy and how we interact with our environment.   Fever, cold, headaches, body pains and joint (arthritic) pains are usually worse during this time due to the contracting nature of cold within our bodies.

H1N1

Well it has been a while since I had a chance to update my patients on some changes that have happened in what seems only weeks ago and yet it has been 6 months. I am now mom to two little girls – our latest addition is Isabel.
Thank you to everyone for your patience, good wishes and congratulations.

Now up for discussion is the latest in health concerns…H1N1…so many concerns for so many people. Yet I really feel that the World Health Organization (WHO) has responded in such an alarmed manner mainly due to the scare that we had with SARS, and the anticipation of the avian flu. It seems to me that for some reason we are ‘awaiting’ a pandemic of some kind. Why? maybe ‘awaiting’ is not the right word, it really is fear. We fear the possibility of a pandemic!