There is just no getting around it, if you want to get healthy and stay healthy, you must commit to a healthy lifestyle. Though it may not seem like it, every little thing you do each day from eating a banana to walking around the block makes a big difference in helping you to maintain your overall health and longevity potential. And, in just the same way, every little thing you don’t do makes a big difference as well. In fact, according to a new study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the cumulative impact of smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, and excess alcohol consumption can add up to increased risk of death. Or to put it another way, these four bad habits can shorten your life by as much as 12 years. Not to mention, of course, the low quality of life enjoyment you’ll experience right up until “the end” prematurely comes along! In fact, the study authors say that, when compared to a healthy lifestyle that includes none of the above (or excludes all of the above), the combined effect of all four behaviors tripled or even quadrupled the risk of death.
So, yet another wake up for you procrastinators out there. The bad habits you eliminate and the good habits you develop will tip the scales significantly in your favor. Don’t put healthy changes off one more day. A healthy lifestyle can profoundly affect your chances of living to a happy old age.At my Cincinnati Chiropractic Clinic I treat a lot of seniors who are affected by balance problems. In fact, nine percent of adults, aged 65 and over, have episodes of dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related problems. Good balance is crucial, of course, in helping elders to continue to be independent and in avoiding falls and encounter injuries that are commonly extremely serious or even fatal. But, I wonder if you are aware that falls contribute to a large portion of work injuries for individuals younger than 65 years of age, including individuals in their twenties and thirties? That’s right! Balance problems can happen at any age. It is for this reason that those who work in “high places” like construction workers, roofers, oil platform employees, windows cleaners, or anywhere else where a ladder is required are far more vulnerable to serious injury if their balance isn’t good.
The essential function of good balance is to aid us in managing and maintaining our body position, whether standing still or moving, and whether on the ground or high up on a platform. Good balance aids us in walking without faltering, arising from a sitting position without tottering, and in climbing stairs without slipping. It is obvious, then, that good balance is extremely important to our health and well-being.
What is frequently surprising to some young adults, in particular is that they could have a balance problem without being aware of how threatening it may be. On occasion an individual is able to “shake off” a dizzy feeling and the sensation may not return for a while. However when unexpected dizziness occurs at a decisive time, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is often certain.
When you have the sensation that you, personally, are spinning or that objects around you are moving, it is termed “vertigo.” Close to forty percent of individuals in the U.S. will have at least one experience of dizziness that is acute enough to seek out help from a health professional, such as your Chiropractor in Cincinnati. However, if you work at any of the jobs listed above, having a chiropractor check your balance before an episode of dizziness, make corrections if necessary, and then aid you in maintaining good balance, may save you from serious injury or worse.
Balance disorders at any age are risky. It is vital for you to be diagnosed and treated quickly if you think that you may have a possible balance disorder. Often guidelines are helpful. Therefore, if you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, even if the experience is seldom or infrequent, you should discuss the symptom(s) with a chiropractor as soon as possible:
• Have you experienced a feeling of being “unsteady?”
• Has the room seemed to spin around you?
• Has there ever a time when you felt as if you were moving when you knew you were standing still?
• Have you lost your balance and/or fallen down?
• Have you ever felt as if you were falling?
• Has your vision ever become “blurred?”
• Have you ever felt disoriented, or lost a sense of time, place or identity?
It is important for you to remember that balance problems are not confined to a particular age group. From the time we learn to walk until we take our final step, our falling down is possible. If you work in a job that makes your falling down a “critical” event, you need to have your balance checked. Don’t wait until you sustain a work injury! If you’re in the Cincinnati area, give Cincinnati chiropractic a call today!