Monthly Archives: February 2021

Is a Healthy Immune System the New Focus of Travel Health?

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The face of travel health has changed exponentially in the face of the current pandemic. While traditional medicine is still utilized as a treatment for travel-related concerns, recent times have seen holistic and integrative preventative measures and treatments become increasingly popular. This shift in focus has been noted both among conventional health care practitioners as well as the general public. Greater value is also being assigned to a healthy immune system as travel health becomes more prevention-based. While the body typically does a good job of keeping your immune system functioning well, the added stress associated with travel can put added pressure on it. Thankfully, there are a number of whole health solutions that can help a modern-day traveler remain healthy while journeying across the globe.

Optimal nutrition is vital

Many travelers fail to follow a healthy diet while traveling which leaves them at an increased risk of illness and injury.  The longer a trip is, the greater the impact of a diet lacking in vital nutrients will be.  Apart from affecting your immune system, a diet that lacks vitamins and minerals can also lead to lethargy, sporadic blood glucose levels, and compromised sleeping patterns.

Apart from following a diet that comprises of lean protein, ample amounts of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, travelers can also benefit from quality vitamin and mineral supplements. A good multivitamin can provide the body with a much-needed nutritional boost when it is increasingly difficult to follow a nutrient-dense diet. Travelers also need to steer clear of contaminated food and water at all costs to prevent traveler’s diarrhea from setting in. Stick to drinking bottled water and avoid buying food from outlets that appear to be less than hygienic.

Make an effort to exercise

Alongside nutrition and sleep, exercise is seen as one of the pillars of integrative medicine.  Physical activity is essential for travelers as it helps to reduce inflammation and regenerate your immune cells. It is also of immense benefit to long-haul travelers who are at a greater risk of contracting deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The World Health Organization recommends that a healthy adult engages in at least 75 minutes of rigorous activity or 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week.  Moving around during a long flight will help keep DVT at bay while partaking in a physical activity you enjoy, such as walking, cycling, or swimming, will give both your immune system and energy levels a very welcome boost.

Sleep and immunity are closely related

Many individuals battle to get sufficient sound sleep while traveling – to the great detriment to their immune systems. Poor quality sleep and inadequate sleep have both been linked to an increased risk of illness. When traveling, extra effort may be required to ensure that you get the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. Apart from boosting your natural immunity, sufficient sleep can also help your immune system fight off illness when you do get sick. If you are unable to get enough sound sleep at night due to your travel schedule, try to have one or two shorter naps during the day. Investing in a quality sleep mask can be especially beneficial if you struggle to sleep on planes or in new surroundings that may be more brightly lit than to what you are generally accustomed to.

The face of travel health has changed exponentially in recent times. A whole health approach to a healthy immune system is not only beneficial to travelers but to anyone wanting to lead an increasingly healthy life.

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Love As Nourishment

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Love as Nourishment

Valentine’s Day is the designated holiday for expressing our love to those in our life who provide us with the nourishment of love. We don’t often think of love as a nutrient, but indeed it is.

Freud made a statement about the power of love to create in us happiness, joy, hope and well being when he said: “We are never so hopelessly unhappy as when we lose love.”

As a physician who saw the ravages of lost love, Freud knew something from his experience about the human condition – something we often forget. Those who love us and those we love fulfill our basic human need to be known, valued and wanted by those we care about and seek out in our lives.

As an older adult who, like Freud, has seen the ravages of loves loss, I have come to appreciate and cherish those in my life who fulfill my need to be valued and wanted – my need to be loved.

It is important for each of us to remember that no one is perfect and that if we expect perfection in love we will surely be disappointed. One of the gifts of age and experience is the relief of realizing that each act of love we give from our imperfect self to another and the love given to us by imperfect others, is the most important wealth we possess.

At the end of the day, when all else is stilled and the distractions of work, ambition, success and achievement are put aside, it is those we “go home to” and the nourishment they provide us that is our real treasure.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all of us – and may we take the time to appreciate how profound a blessing the gift of love is in our lives.

Warning! Being In Love Can Cause Weight Gain

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Love Is Fattening- Heart - Cocoa - Chocolate

Here’s a great article, written by Nicholas Bakalar, about a study that was published on the relationship between the weight gain of women who live with a mate in comparison to women who do not. Rather than excerpt material from the article, I would like to share it with you in its entirety. I hope this information is useful for you or someone you know.

Study Says Women With Mate Get Heavier
by Nicholas Bakalar

It is widely known that women tend to gain weight after giving birth, but now a large study has found evidence that even among childless women, those who live with a mate put on more pounds than those who live without one.

The differences, the scientists found, were stark.

After adjusting for other variables, the 10-year weight gain for an average 140-pound woman was 20 pounds if she had a baby and a partner, 15 if she had a partner but no baby, and only 11 pounds if she was childless with no partner. The number of women with a baby but no partner was too small to draw statistically significant conclusions.

There is no reason to believe that having a partner causes metabolic changes, so the weight gain among childless women with partners was almost surely caused by altered behavior. Moreover, there was a steady weight gain among all women over the 10 years of the study.

This does not explain the still larger weight gain in women who became pregnant. The lead author, Annette J. Dobson, a professor of bio-statistics at the University of Queensland in Australia, suggested that physiological changes might be at work.

“Women’s bodies may adjust to the increased weight associated with having a baby,” Dr. Dobson said. “There may be a metabolic adjustment that goes on when women are pregnant that is hard to reverse. This would be more consistent with our findings than any other explanation.”

The study covered more than 6,000 Australian women over a 10-year period ending in 2006.

At the start, the women ranged in age from 18 to 23. Each woman periodically completed a survey with more than 300 questions about weight and height, age, level of education, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, medications used, and a wide range of other health and health care issues.

Love Is Fattening- Surprise Weight GainBy the end of the study, published in the January issue of The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, more than half the women had college degrees, about three-quarters had partners and half had had at least one baby. Almost all of the weight gain happened with the first baby; subsequent births had little effect.

Also by the end of the study period, there were fewer smokers and risky drinkers than at the beginning, more women who exercised less, and a larger proportion without paid employment.

But even after adjusting for all of these factors and more, the differences in weight gain among women with and without babies, and among women with and without partners, remained.

Despite the study’s limitations — weight was self-reported, for example, and the sample size diminished over time because people dropped out — other experts found the results valuable.

“It’s interesting and brings out some important points,” said Maureen A. Murtaugh, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Utah who has published widely on weight gain in women. Perhaps, she suggested, a more active social life may help explain why women with partners gain more weight.

“Think of going to a restaurant,” Dr. Murtaugh said. “They serve a 6-foot man the same amount as they serve me, even though I’m 5 feet 5 inches and 60 pounds lighter.”

The study included only women, but the researchers cited one earlier study that showed an increase in obesity among men who had children, adding further evidence that social and behavioral factors are part of the explanation.

Dr. Dobson said the finding of weight gain among all the women, with families or without, was troubling.

“This is a general health concern,” she said. “Getting married or moving in with a partner and having a baby are events that trigger even further weight gain.

“From a prevention point of view, one can look at these as particular times when women need to be especially careful.”

Article Originally Published by the Herald Tribune.

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