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Sherri Connell

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You are here: Home / Archives for depression

I Made It Through Another Winter

March 12, 2016 By Sherri

Daylight Savings 2016

I MADE IT THROUGH ANOTHER WINTER! Hallelujah! Tonight we turn our clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time!

For me, this means: More sunshine, time outside, time with my animals, time to BBQ, time for appointments and outings for Wayne and me (don’t have to be home so early to put up the goats), time outside after my hubby gets home from work, more dopamine, serotonin, energy at night and it marks a turning point day for me to look forward to Spring and Summer, warmer weather and swimming!!! … Must I go on?

♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡ Wahoo!!!!

PS) For all of you who whine about losing an hour of sleep, try to remember you gain one later. It is worth the 238 hours of extra sunshine in the evening when you get off work and your kids get out of school!

Spring Forward Pumpkin - PumpkinAndCookie.com

Filed Under: Thoughts for the Day Tagged With: awareness, birds, chronic illness and pain, daylight saving, depression, happy, invisible disabilities, joy, just for fun, no more winter, personal story, SAD, seasonal effective disorder, spring, sunshine, winter

Sitting Eight Hours a Day Significantly Increases Your Risk of Dying

February 6, 2015 By Sherri


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By Dr. Mercola, February 06, 2015

If you’re like most people, you spend a vast majority of your day sitting down—in your office, commuting to and from work, watching TV in the evening… Research1 shows that the average American spends nine to 10 hours of their day sitting.

Certain occupations, such as telecommunications employees spend an average of 12 hours sitting each day. I was certainly in that group and for 15 years was sitting more than 12 hours a day. And, the more sedentary you are at work, the more sedentary you will tend to be at home as well.

Thankfully, last year, the evidence became overwhelmingly compelling and I have essentially eliminated 95 percent of my sitting. I found that merely getting up for a few minutes even six times an hour would not help eliminate my back pain but stopping sitting altogether did.

Even on weekends, the average person sits for eight hours. This behavior can be more problematic than you might think, as the human body was designed to be in more or less constant movement throughout the day.

I really wasn’t  aware of this prior to last year, but the evidence shows that prolonged sitting actively promotes dozens of chronic diseases, including overweight and type 2 diabetes, even if you’re very fit. This is really highly counterintuitive as it would seem physically fit people could get away with sitting.

However, research shows that maintaining a regular fitness regimen cannot counteract the accumulated ill effects of sitting eight to 12 hours a day in between bouts of exercise. This is very strong evidence to seriously consider eliminating as much sitting as you can.

Sitting really is the new smoking and it increases your rate of lung cancer by over 50 percent. Who would have known that sitting is far more dangerous than second hand smoke?

Analysis Concludes: Sitting Kills, Even if You Exercise

There’s really compelling evidence showing that when you sit for lengths of time, disease processes set in that independently raise your mortality risk, even if you eat right, exercise regularly and are very fit; even a professional or Olympic level athlete.

The most recent systematic review2,3 looked at 47 studies of sedentary behavior, and discovered that the time a person spends sitting each day produces detrimental effects that outweigh the benefits reaped from exercise.

Sitting was found to increase your risk of death from virtually all health problems, from type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease to cancer and all-cause mortality. For example, sitting for more than eight hours a day was associated with a 90 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Other research4 has found that those who sit the most have a 112 percent increased Relative Risk of diabetes, and a 147 percent increased relative risk of cardiovascular events compared to those who sit the least.

All-cause mortality is also increased by 50 percent. In fact, chronic sitting has a mortality rate similar to smoking.5 And, the less you exercise, the more pronounced the detrimental effects of sitting. To counteract the ill effects of prolonged sitting, the authors of the featured review6 suggest that you:

  • Keep track of how much you’re sitting each day, and make an effort to reduce it, little by little, each week
  • Use a standing desk at work. Although standing up frequently is better than constant sitting I am now strongly convinced that avoiding sitting completely is far preferable and has better metabolic effects.
  • When watching TV, stand up and/or walk around during commercial breaks

More Studies Highlighting Debilitating Effects of Sitting

Part one in a two-part series of articles7 published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) at the beginning of January also highlights the hazards of our modern sedentary lifestyle, suggesting that public policy needs to be reassessed and updated to focus on increasing movement during work hours.

The article summarizes the findings from the 2015 Inaugural Active Working Summit, where a number of health effects of sitting were reviewed, including cancer and mental health. For example, one study presented at the summit found that sitting increases:

  • Lung cancer by 54 percent
  • Uterine cancer by  66 percent, and
  • Colon cancer by 30 percent

The reason for this increased cancer risk is thought to be linked to weight gain and associated biochemical changes, such as alterations in hormones, metabolic dysfunction, leptin dysfunction, and inflammation—all of which promote cancer. Research also shows that your risk for anxiety and depression rises right along with hours spent in your chair.

Why Sitting Causes So Much Harm

Download Interview Transcript

Dr. James Levine, co-director of the Mayo Clinic and the Arizona State University Obesity Initiative, and author of the book Get Up! Why Your Chair Is Killing You and What You Can Do About It, has dedicated a good part of his career to investigating the health effects of sitting. His investigations show that when you’ve been sitting for a long period of time and then get up, a number of molecular cascades occur. For example, within 90 seconds of standing up, the muscular and cellular systems that process blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol—which are mediated by insulin—are activated.

All of these molecular effects are activated simply by carrying your own bodyweight. These cellular mechanisms are also responsible for pushing fuel into your cells and, if done regularly, will radically decrease your risk of diabetes and obesity. In short, at the molecular level, your body was designed to be active and on the move all day long. When you stop moving for extended periods of time, it’s like telling your body it’s time to shut down and prepare for death… As noted by Dr. Levine, while we clearly need to rest from time to time, that rest is supposed to break up activity—not the other way around! Inactivity—sitting—is not supposed to be a way of life.

“[T]his very unnatural [sitting] posture is not only bad for your back, your wrists, your arms, and your metabolism, but it actually switches off the fundamental fueling systems that integrate what’s going on in the bloodstream with what goes on in the muscles and in the tissues,” he says.

As a consequence of sitting, your blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, and toxic buildup all rise. The solution to these adverse events do not involve a prescription—all you need to do is get up, and avoid sitting down as much as possible. If you’ve been sitting down for a full hour, you’ve sat too long, and the cellular mechanisms involved in the maintenance of your body and health are shutting down. We are in the process of providing all our employees at mercola.com standing desk options. If you have a sit down job I would strongly encourage you to present this information to your employer and get a stand up desk.

Avoiding Sitting is the First Step Toward a Healthier Lifestyle

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends getting at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week, but researchers say this may be too ambitious a goal for many people—particularly the elderly, at least to start. They suggest a more realistic approach may be to simply avoid sitting still as much as possible.  In a paper8 titled, “Recommendations for Physical Activity in Older Adults”, Professor Phillip Sparling and colleagues write:

“There is now a clear need to reduce prolonged sitting. Secondly, evidence on the potential ofhigh intensity interval training in managing the same chronic diseases, as well as reducing indices of cardiometabolic risk in healthy adults, has emerged. This vigorous training typically comprises multiple 3-4 minute bouts of high intensity exercise interspersed with several minutes of low intensity recovery, three times a week.

Between these two extremes of the activity spectrum is the mainstream public health recommendation for aerobic exercise… 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity activity in bouts of 10 minutes or more… However, many people, especially in older age groups, find it hard to achieve this level of activity. We argue that when advising patients on exercise doctors should encourage people to increase their level of activity by small amounts rather than focus on the recommended levels. The 150 minute target, although warranted, may overshadow other less concrete elements of guidelines. These include finding ways to do more lower intensity lifestyle activity…”

A Fitness Tracker Can Be a Helpful Tool

Part of the solution may also be to reassess your use of technology. Your TV, for example, can increase your sedentary time by hours each day, so consider trading some of that sedentary time for something more active. That doesn’t mean that all technology is detrimental though.9 I’m very excited about the explosion of wearable fitness trackers for example, which can measure your activity levels and track how long and how well you sleep. It’s hard to change a habit if you’re not tracking it, and devices like these can help you modify your behavior over time, such as motivating you to walk more, and get in bed earlier to get your eight hours of sleep.

If you don’t already have a fitness tracker, I would encourage you to get one. Jawbone’s Up3,10 when it is released later this year, will be among the most advanced fitness trackers to date, but even more advanced ones are sure to follow. The Apple Watch,11 which is also set to launch this year is one example. I have reviewed many of them and Jawbone is one of the best, featuring a suite of state-of-the art sensors that provide a wide array of health data. I recommend aiming for 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day, over and above any exercise regimen you may have, and to shoot for eight hours of sleep each night. With a fitness tracker, you can track all of this and more. I was probably doing 2,000 steps a day prior to using one and now I am up to about 15,000 steps a day or about eight miles. I am able to read my Kindle while walking and have been able to read a book a week.

When Sitting Is Unavoidable, Keep Posture in Mind

While it’s certainly possible to limit sitting, it’s still an unavoidable part of most people’s lives. The question then becomes, how can you limit the risks associated with sitting? Paying attention to your posture is one way. A recent CNN article12 suggests “sitting smarter” by incorporating yoga postures and being aware of your breathing, and presents a five-point yoga-based posture check that can make for healthier sitting.

Also familiarize yourself with your body’s signals to shift or move. Following the recommendations by “posture guru” Esther Gokhale may also go a long way toward improving posture-related pain associated with prolonged sitting, and will likely help ameliorate the worst risks of sitting. The basics of healthy sitting include the following points:

    • Stack sitting: In order to allow the bones in your spine to stack well and permit the muscles alongside them to relax, sit with your behind sticking out behind you, but not exaggeratedly so. Now, when you breathe, each in-and-out breath will automatically lengthen and settle your spine. This gentle movement stimulates circulation and allows natural healing to go on even while you sit.

While conventional advice tells you to tuck in your pelvis to maintain an S-shaped spine, Esther has found that a J-spine is far more natural. A J-spine refers to a posture where your back is straight, your lumbar relatively flat, and your buttocks are protruding slightly. By tucking your pelvis, you lose about a third of the volume in your pelvic cavity, which squishes your internal organs. This can compromise any number of them in a variety of ways. This is further compounded if you’re both “tucked” and “hunched” while sitting.

    • Stretch sitting. Another way to elongate your spine is by using your back rest as a traction device. You can see her demonstrate this move in the video below. You will need either a towel or a specially designed traction cushion for this purpose. This simple maneuver brings your back away from the back rest, lengthens your spine, and then roots you higher up against the back rest.

This position helps you maintain an elongated spine, and by getting traction on your discs, you allow them to rehydrate and prevent the nerves from being impinged between your vertebrae. It will also help flatten out your lumbar area, and this alone can sometimes provide immediate pain relief if you have sciatic nerve root pain. Although please remember that sitting should be your last resort when you have no alternative. It is far better for you to stand than sit. It might take a bit to adjust but once you do it will be every bit as comfortable as sitting.

Make Walking a Part of Your Daily Routine

The evidence is overwhelming at this point—10,000 studies and growing—that prolonged sitting will reduce your lifespan by promoting dozens of chronic diseases, even if you exercise regularly. I’ve previously recommended standing up and doing exercises at your desk every 10-15 minutes to counteract the ill effects of sitting, but after reading Dr. Levine’s book, I’m convinced even that may be insufficient if you’re seeking optimal health. I really think the answer is to stand up as much as possible.

That said, I realize some people may be limited by work policies and/or other factors, and eliminating sitting altogether is too lofty a goal. I’m simply suggesting you take a closer look at how you spend your day, and find ways to stand up or move more often. For a number of tips and tricks, please see my previous article, “Tips for Staying Active in the Office.” Remember, as a general rule, if you’ve been sitting for one hour, you’ve sat too long. At bare minimum, avoid sitting for more than 50 minutes out of every hour.

I believe high intensity training, non-exercise activities like walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day, and avoiding sitting whenever possible is an ideal combination for optimizing your health. And, while I recommend walking in addition to your regular fitness regimen, not as a replacement for it, if you’re currently doing nothing in terms of regimented exercise, walking is certainly a great place to start. For many, simply getting and staying out of your chair is a first step that can bring you closer to a healthier lifestyle. As you become more used to low level, non-exercise activity, you’re more likely to get motivated enough to start exercising more vigorously.

Filed Under: Thoughts for the Day Tagged With: anxiety, colon cancer, depression, desk exercise, exercise, fitness tracker, high intensity interval training, hormones, inflammation, lung cancer, posture, sitting, stretching, uterine cancer, walking, weight gain

Advances in Understanding of Depression Offers New Hope

January 23, 2015 By Sherri

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By Dr. Mercola

Depression is thought to affect about one in 10 Americans.1 In 2010, antidepressants were the second most commonly prescribed type of medication in the US,2 hinting at the severity of the problem.

Contrary to popular belief, depression is not likely caused by unbalanced brain chemicals; however there are a number of other biological factors that appear to be highly significant. Chronic inflammation is one. As noted in the featured article:3

“George Slavich, a clinical psychologist at the University of California in Los Angeles, has spent years studying depression, and has come to the conclusion that it has as much to do with the body as the mind.

‘I don’t even talk about it as a psychiatric condition anymore,’ he says. ‘It does involve psychology, but it also involves equal parts of biology and physical health.’

The basis of this new view is blindingly obvious once it is pointed out: everyone feels miserable when they are ill. That feeling of being too tired, bored and fed up to move off the sofa and get on with life is known among psychologists as sickness behaviour.

It happens for a good reason, helping us avoid doing more damage or spreading an infection any further. It also looks a lot like depression.”

One researcher even goes so far as to suggest depression should be rebranded as an infectious but non-contagious disease,4 while the author of the featured article playfully compares depression with an allergic reaction—in this case “an allergy to modern life”—considering the many environmental factors that are known to cause inflammation, from diet to toxic exposures and stress.

Scientists have also found that your mental health can be adversely impacted by factors such as vitamin D deficiency and/or unbalanced gut flora—both of which, incidentally, play a role in keeping inflammation in check, which is really what the remedy to depression is all about.

Inflammation and Depression

As discussed in an article by Dr. Kelly Brogan, depressive symptoms can be viewed as downstream manifestations of inflammation.

“The source itself may be singularly or multiply-focused as stress, dietary and toxic exposures, and infection… [I]nflammation appears to be a highly relevant determinant of depressive symptoms such as flat mood, slowed thinking, avoidance, alterations in perception, and metabolic changes,5” she writes.

Certain biomarkers, such as cytokines in your blood and inflammatory messengers like CRP, IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-alpha, show promise as potential new diagnostic tools, as they’re “predictive6 and linearly7 correlative” with depression.

For example, researchers have found8 that melancholic depression, bipolar disorder, and postpartum depression, are associated with elevated levels of cytokines in combination with decreased cortisol sensitivity (cortisol is both a stress hormone and a buffer against inflammation). As explained by Dr. Brogan:

“Once triggered in the body, these inflammatory agents transfer information to the nervous system, typically through stimulation of major nerves such as the vagus, which connects9 the gut and brain. Specialized cells called microglia in the brain represent the brain’s immune hubs and are activated in inflammatory states.

In activated microglia, an enzyme called IDO (indoleamine 2 3-dioxygenase) has been shown10 to direct tryptophan away from the production of serotonin and melatonin and towards the production of an NMDA agonist called quinolinic acid that may be responsible for symptoms of anxiety and agitation.

These are just some of the changes that may conspire to let your brain in on what your body may know is wrong.”

Using Brain Scans to Help Choose Treatment Type

Speaking of biomarkers, research11 by Dr. Helen Mayberg, a professor of psychiatry at Emory University, may also pave the way toward a more refined and customized treatment plan. Her research is discussed in the video above.

Dr. Mayberg has identified a biomarker in the brain that can be used to predict whether a depressed patient is a good candidate for medication, or might be better off with psychotherapy. As noted by the New York Times:12

“Patients who had low activity in a brain region called the anterior insula measured before treatment responded quite well to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT} but poorly to Lexapro; conversely, those with high activity in this region had an excellent response to Lexapro, but did poorly with CBT….

[T]he insula is centrally involved in the capacity for emotional self-awareness, cognitive control and decision making, all of which are impaired by depression. Perhaps cognitive behavior therapy has a more powerful effect than an antidepressant in patients with an underactive insula because it teaches patients to control their emotionally disturbing thoughts in a way that an antidepressant cannot.”

The Links Between Gut and Mental Health

A number of studies have confirmed that gastrointestinal inflammation specifically can play a critical role in the development of depression, suggesting that beneficial bacteria (probiotics) may be an important part of treatment. For example, a Hungarian scientific review13 published in 2011 made the following observations:

    1. Depression is often found alongside gastrointestinal inflammations and autoimmune diseases as well as with cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, type 2 diabetes and also cancer, in which chronic low-grade inflammation is a significant contributing factor.Thus researchers suggested “depression may be a neuropsychiatric manifestation of a chronic inflammatory syndrome.”
    2. An increasing number of clinical studies have shown that treating gastrointestinal inflammation with probiotics, vitamin B, vitamin D, may also improve depression symptoms and quality of life by attenuating pro-inflammatory stimuli to your brain.
    3. Research suggests the primary cause of inflammation may be dysfunction of the “gut-brain axis.”

Your gut is literally your second brain — created from the identical tissue as your brain during gestation — and contains higher levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is associated with mood control.

It’s important to understand that your gut bacteria are an active and integrated part of serotonin regulation and actually produce more serotonin than your brain. Optimizing your gut flora is a key part of the equation to optimize your levels. If you consume loads of processed foods and sugars, your gut bacteria will be severely compromised because processed foods tend to decimate healthy microflora. This leaves a void that is filled by disease-causing bacteria and yeast and fungi that will promote inflammation and decrease the health of your second brain.

Low-Sugar Diet Is an Important Anti-Depressant Tool

Besides distorting your microflora, sugar also triggers a cascade of other chemical reactions in your body known to promote both chronic inflammation and depression. For starters, excessive sugar consumption leads to elevated insulin levels. That can have a detrimental impact on your mood and mental health by causing higher levels of glutamate to be secreted in your brain, which has been linked to agitation, depression, anger, anxiety, and panic attacks.

Sugar suppresses activity of a key growth hormone called BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) which promotes healthy brain neurons. BDNF levels are critically low in both depression and schizophrenia, which animal models suggest might actually be causative.

Cultured and fermented foods, on the other hand, help reseed your gut with a wide variety of healthy bacteria that promote mental and physical health as long as your keep your sugar and processed food intake low. For instance, one 2011 study14found that the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus has a marked effect on GABA levels in certain brain regions and lowers the stress-induced hormone corticosterone, resulting in reduced anxiety- and depression-related behavior.  So the three-prong dietary answer for treating depression is to:

  1. Severely limit sugars, especially fructose, as well as grains, as all forms of sugar feed pathogenic bacteria in your gut. The easiest way to do this is to avoid processed foods, and start cooking from scratch using whole ingredients. As a standard recommendation, I suggest limiting your daily fructose consumption from all sources to 25 grams per day or less.
  2. Avoid foods with genetically engineered ingredients, as they too have been implicated in the destruction of gut flora, along with promoting chronic inflammation. Keep in mind that conventionally-grown foods may also be contaminated with glyphosate, which has been found to selectively destroy beneficial, health-promoting gut bacteria, so ideally, you’ll want to make sure as much of your food as possible is organically grown to avoid pesticide exposure.
  3. Introduce fermented foods into your diet to rebalance your gut flora.

Beware that your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to and can be harmed by the following, all of which should be avoided:

Antibiotics, unless absolutely necessary (and when you do, make sure to reseed your gut with fermented foods and/or a probiotic supplement) Conventionally-raised meats and other animal products, as CAFO animals are routinely fed low-dose antibiotics, plus genetically engineered grains
Chlorinated and/or fluoridated water Antibacterial soap

Vitamin D Deficiency Predisposes You to Depression

Vitamin D deficiency is another important biological factor that can play a significant role in mental health. In one 2006 study,15 seniors with vitamin D levels below 20 ng/ml were found to be 11 times more prone to be depressed than those with higher levels. It’s worth noting that the mean vitamin D level was just under 19 ng/ml, which is a severe deficiency state. In fact, 58 percent of the participants had levels below 20 ng/ml. A 2007 study16 suggested that vitamin D deficiency is responsible for symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients with fibromyalgia. Vitamin D deficiency is also a well-recognized cause in Seasonal Affective Disorder17 (SAD). A double-blind randomized trial18 published in 2008 also concluded that:

“It appears to be a relation between serum levels of 25(OH)D and symptoms of depression. Supplementation with high doses of vitamin D seems to ameliorate these symptoms indicating a possible causal relationship.”

More recently, researchers19 found that seniors with depression had vitamin D levels that were 14 percent lower than those who were not depressed. Here, those with vitamin D levels below 20 ng/ml had an 85 percent increased risk of depression, compared to those with levels above 30 ng/ml. Yet another paper20 published in 2011 noted that:

“Effective detection and treatment of inadequate vitamin D levels in persons with depression and other mental disorders may be an easy and cost-effective therapy which could improve patients’ long-term health outcomes as well as their quality of life.”

Based on the evaluation of healthy populations that get plenty of natural sun exposure, the optimal range for general physical and mental health appears to be somewhere between 50 and 70 ng/ml. So, if you’re depressed, you’d be well advised to get your vitamin D level checked, and to address any insufficiency or deficiency. The D*Action Project by GrassrootsHealth is one cost effective testing solution. As for optimizing your levels, sensible sun exposure is the ideal way. Alternatively, use a tanning bed with an electronic ballast, and/or an oral vitamin D3 supplement.  GrassrootsHealth has a helpful chart showing the average adult dose required to reach healthy vitamin D levels based upon your measured starting point. Keep in mind that if you opt for a vitamin D supplement, you also need to take vitamin K2 and magnesium, as these nutrients work in tandem.

vitamin d levels

There Are Many Alternatives to Drug Treatment

Antidepressant drugs come with a long laundry list of risks, and are therefore best left as a last resort, if all else fails. Medical journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee Robert Whitaker has detailed the many drawbacks and benefits of various treatments in his two books: Mad in America, and Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, noting that physical exercise actually comes out on top in most studies—even when compared against antidepressant drugs.

Exercise primarily works by helping to normalize your insulin levels while simultaneously boosting “feel good” hormones in your brain. But researchers have also discovered that exercise allows your body to eliminate kynurenine, a harmful protein associated with depression.21 And, again showing the link between inflammation and depression, your body metabolizes kynurenine in the first place via a process that is activated by stress and inflammatory factors… While I addressed several dietary factors to restore health to your gut, I also recommend supplementing your diet with a high quality animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil. This may be the single most important nutrient for optimal brain function, thereby easing symptoms of depression. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also contribute to depression, and affects one in four people.

Last but not least, make sure you get enough sleep. The link between depression and lack of sleep is well established. Of the approximately 18 million Americans with depression, more than half of them struggle with insomnia. While it was long thought that insomnia was a symptom of depression, it now seems that insomnia may precede depression in some cases.22 Recent research also found that sleep therapyresulted in remarkable improvements in depressed patients. The take-home message here is that one or more lifestyle factors may be at the heart of your depression, so you’d be well advised to address the factors discussed in this article before resorting to drug treatment—which science has shown is no more effective than placebo, while being fraught with potentially dangerous side effects.

Filed Under: Thoughts for the Day Tagged With: brain scan, Cerescan, cortisol, cytokines, depression, Dr. Mercola, fermented vegetables, GABA, gastrointestinal, good bacteria, gut flora, inflammation, nutrition, probiotics, sleep, SPECT, stress, sugar, vitamin B12, vitamin d

Reversing Depression Without Antidepressants

January 23, 2015 By Sherri

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Story at-a-glance+

By Dr. Mercola

Every year, 230 million prescriptions for antidepressants are filled, making them one of the most prescribed drugs in the United States. The psychiatric industry itself is a $330 billion industry—not bad for an enterprise that offers little in the way of cures.

Despite all of these prescriptions, more than one in 20 Americans are depressed, according to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of those depressed Americans, 80 percent say they have some level of functional impairment, and 27 percent say their condition makes it extremely difficult to do everyday tasks like work, activities of daily living, and getting along with others.

The use of antidepressant drugs—medicine’s answer for depression—doubled in just one decade, from 13.3 million in 1996 to 27 million in 2005.

If these drugs are so extensively prescribed, then why are so many people feeling so low?

Because they don’t work at addressing the cause.

Unfortunately, research has confirmed that antidepressant drugs are no more effective than sugar pills. Some studies have even found that sugar pills may produce BETTER results than antidepressants! Personally, I believe the reason for this astounding finding is that both pills work via the placebo effect, but the sugar pills produce far fewer adverse effects.

Many people forget that antidepressants come with a slew of side effects, some of which are deadly. Approximately 750,000 people attempt suicide each year in the US, and about 30,000 of those succeed. Taking a drug that is unlikely to relieve your symptoms and may actually increase your risk of killing yourself certainly does not seem like a good choice.

In addition, since most of the treatment focus is on drugs, many safe and natural treatment options that DO work are being completely ignored. No wonder so many people are suffering.

Detecting Depression in Yourself or a Loved One

Unfortunately, about two-thirds of people with depression go undiagnosed. Untreated depression is the number one cause of suicide, which is a sad testament to the clinical astuteness of most physicians. The diagnostic clues provided in this past article are telling indicators that you or someone you love might be suffering from this illness, so please review them now.

Depression is much more than just feeling blue once in a while.

One set of diagnostic criteria used to assess depression is known as “SIGECAPS,” which stands for sleep, interest, guilt, energy, concentration, appetite, psychomotor and suicide. If four or more of these items are a concern, it strongly suggests major depression.

However, it is important to watch for symptoms besides mood changes, considering relevant information from family and friends as well.

If you have been feeling down for two weeks or more and have lost interest in activities you once enjoyed, I’d encourage you to consider the treatment options for healing depression suggested later in this article, as opposed to immediately leaping into potentially dangerous drugs.

Notes on Suicide: When to Worry

Most suicide attempts are expressions of extreme distress, not harmless bids for attention. A person who appears suicidal needs immediate professional help.

If you think someone is suicidal, do not leave him or her alone.

Help the person to seek immediate assistance from heir doctor or the nearest hospital emergency room, or call 911. Eliminate access to firearms or other potential suicide aids, including unsupervised access to medications.

Besides straightforward or “sideways” comments about not wanting to live any longer, some of the red flags that a person has a high risk for self-harm include:

  • Acquiring a weapon
  • Hoarding medication
  • No plan for the future
  • Putting affairs in order
  • Making or changing a will
  • Giving away personal belongings
  • Mending grievances
  • Checking on insurance policies
  • Withdrawing from people

Your suicide risk is higher if you have recently experienced any of the following extremely stressful life situations (this is certainly not a comprehensive list):

  • Loss of a significant relationship or death of a loved one
  • Diagnosis of a terminal illness
  • Loss of financial security or livelihood
  • Loss of home or employment
  • Abuse, rape or other serious emotional trauma

People sometimes become more suicidal as they begin the climb up out of depression, which is one means by which antidepressant drugs can increase suicide risk.

One of the reasons for this is, as lethargy (which is common in depression) lifts, you can more easily find the energy to carry out a suicide plan. Another possible reason is that you might feel more in control and therefore at peace with your situation once you’ve made a decision to end your own life.

This is important to keep in mind because people may appear as if they are feeling better, when in fact, they are more at risk.

Remember that these are only general guidelines, and often your own intuition is the best indicator that someone you love is really in trouble.

If you are feeling desperate or have any thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a toll-free number 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or call 911, or simply go to your nearest Hospital Emergency Department. You can’t make long-term plans for lifestyle changes when you are in a crisis!

First let someone help you through the crisis—then you can deal with your depression later, when you’re feeling more resourceful.

Why Antidepressant Drugs Don’t Work

Every time a new study about the efficacy of antidepressants hits the journals, we see antidepressants plunge further into the abyss.

A recent study in the January 2010 issue of JAMA concludes that there is little evidence that SSRIs (a popular group of antidepressants that includes Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and others) have any benefit to people with mild to moderate depression, andthey work no better than a placebo.

That means that SSRIs are 33 percent effectiveas a placebo. And a study presented at the Neuroscience conference in 2009 tells a similar story. Researchers from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine shared two major findings:

  1. Antidepressant drugs were not invented for depression. Researchers used certain drugs to manipulate the behavior of stressed animals, and then concluded (erroneously) that the drugs would be “good antidepressants.” But chronic stress does not cause the same molecular changes that depression does, making the hypothesis incorrect.So, antidepressants were actually designed to treat stress, rather than depression—which is one reason they are so ineffective.
  2. An imbalance of neurotransmitters in your brain may not trigger depressive symptoms in the way that has long been believed. Instead, the biochemical events that lead to depression appear to start in the development and functioning of neurons. This means antidepressants focus on the effect of depression and completely miss the cause… yet another reason why they are so ineffective for most people.

Unfortunately, the lead researcher is hoping the research will “open up new routes to develop new antidepressants,” when in reality a drug solution is not the answer.

Similarly, in 2008, a meta-analysis published in PLoS Medicine concluded that the difference between antidepressants and placebo pills is very small—and that both are ineffective for most depressed patients. Only the most severely depressed showed any response to antidepressants at all, and that response was quite minimal.

In an interview, Pulitzer Prize nominee Robert Whitaker explained that research suggests the use of antidepressant drugs may actually result in more relapses back into depression in the long run. In other words, these drugs may be turning depression into a more chronic condition.

The other worrisome effect is that antidepressant drugs appear to be converting people from unipolar depression into bipolar—meaning, fluctuating between mania and depression—and this disorder has much poorer long-term outcomes.

These are not new revelations.

Back in 2002, a meta-analysis of published clinical trials indicated that 75 percent of the response to antidepressants could be duplicated by placebo. Many antidepressants may actually make your “mental illness” worse. When your body doesn’t feel good, your mood crashes along with it.

The List of Terrifying Antidepressant Drug Side Effects Grows

Depression—or described another way, “unrepaired emotional short-circuiting”— can cause far more profound negative health consequences than all the damaged food and toxins you expose yourself to daily.

Psychiatric drugs kill 42,000 people every year—that’s 12,000 MORE people than successfully commit suicide due to depression! And the death count continues to rise.

Antidepressants are the largest category of psychiatric drugs. It wouldn’t be so bad if antidepressants were harmless sugar pills, occasionally showing benefit simply because you believe they will work.

But in addition to being ineffective, they are far from harmless and are now associated with many serious health problems:

  • Diabetes: Your risk for type 2 diabetes is two to three times higher if you take antidepressants, according to one study.
  • Problems with your immune system: SSRIs cause serotonin to remain in your nerve junctions longer, interfering with immune cell signaling and T cell growth.
  • Suicidal thoughts and feelings and violent behavior: Your risk for suicide may be twice as high if you take SSRIs; seven out of twelve school shootings were by children who were either on antidepressants or withdrawing from them.
  • Stillbirths: A Canadian study of almost 5,000 mothers found that women on SSRIs were twice as likely to have a stillbirth, and almost twice as likely to have a premature or low birth weight baby; another study showed a 40 percent increased risk for birth defects, such as cleft palate.
  • Brittle bones: One study showed women on antidepressants have a 30 percent higher risk of spinal fracture and a 20 percent high risk for all other fractures.
  • Stroke: Your risk for stroke may be 45 percent higher if you are on antidepressants, possibly related to how the drugs affect blood clotting
  • Death: Overall death rates have been found to be 32 percent higher in women on antidepressants.

Diabetes or stroke will kill you, but suicide is much quicker. The link between suicide and antidepressants is so strong that these drugs have been mandated to havesuicide warnings. Let’s consider one of the newer psychotropic medications that is now being given to people for depression: Abilify (also called aripiprazole).

Abilify is licensed for the treatment of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, and major depression (when taken with antidepressants). It is used to augment the effects of the antidepressants—because, of course, they work so poorly!

But did you know that Abilify has 75 different side effects associated with it?

How absurd is it to take a drug that works about as well as a sugar pill but exposes you to this minefield of ills?

Andy Behrman, a former spokesman for Abilify and Bristol Myers Squibb, which manufactures Abilify, stopped taking the drug in order to avoid the final side effects—coma and death. He made a short video warning you about the drug.

If a former spokesman for the company is sticking his neck out to warn you, how warm and fuzzy does that make you feel about what the pharmaceutical companies are telling you?

Even More Reasons to Avoid Antidepressants, as if You Need Any More

Professor of Medicine Lennard J. Davis wrote an excellent article about SSRIs for the January 2010 issue of Psychology Today. He points out that physicians routinely prescribe not one, but two or three SSRIs and other psychopharmacological drugs in combination—with really no studies to back them up.

Physicians who engage in what is known as “polypharmacy” are hoping that if one didn’t work, maybe two or three will.

Davis writes:

“Doctors are in essence performing uncontrolled experiments on their patients, hoping that in some scattershot way they might hit on a solution. But of course drugs have dangerous interactions and most physicians are shooting in the dark with all the dangers that attend such bad marksmanship.”

In fact, the entire serotonin hypothesis for depression should be given a serious review.

You have heard for years that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance of your neurotransmitters, mainly serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, but there’s a serious lack of research to prove it.

This theory has become so indoctrinated into our culture and media that most people just accept it as fact, simply because they’ve heard it so often. Even mental health practitioners!

But there is no way to measure your serotonin or your dopamine without cutting open your head. Scientists can’t even decide on what a “normal” serotonin level is, much less an abnormal one.

Why do some depressed folks have high serotonin levels, while many happy folks have low ones?

Your brain is far too complex for this overly simplistic explanation to work. More and more “psychiatric diseases” are appearing in the literature all the time, and many could be considered “lifestyle disorders”:

  • Do you shop too much? You might have Compulsive Shipping Disorder.
  • Do you have a difficult time with multiplication? You could be suffering fromDyscalculia.
  • Spending too much time surfing the Web? It might be Internet Addiction Disorder.
  • Spending too much time at the gym? You’d better see someone for yourBigorexia or Muscle Dysmorphia.
  • And my favorite—are your terrified by the number 13? You could haveTriskaidekaphobia!

You get the idea.

The point is, each of these new “diseases” gets added to the next edition of the official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) if enough people show up with those traits. And increasingly, the criteria for inclusion involves whether or not the disorder responds to a category of drugs.

If it does, the phenomenon is dubbed a disease.

Of the 297 mental disorders described in the DSM, none can be objectively measured by empirical tests. In other words, they’re completely subjective. Mental illness symptoms within this manual are arbitrarily assigned by a subjective voting system by a psychiatric panel.

So, they’re making up diseases to fit the drugs—not the other way around.

It’s almost impossible to see a psychiatrist today without being diagnosed with a mental disorder because so many behavior variations are described as pathology. And you have a 99 percent chance of emerging from your psychiatrist’s office with a prescription in hand.

Why so much reliance on popping a pill for every emotional ill?

Because writing a prescription is much faster and lucrative approach for the conventional model. Additionally most practitioners have yet to accept the far more effective energetic psychological approaches.

If Antidepressants Don’t Work, Then What Does?

There are five important strategies to consider if you are facing depression. These strategies have nothing but positive effects and are generally very inexpensive to implement.

1. Do a Bit of Emotional Housekeeping

It is helpful to view depression as a sign that your body and life are out of balance, rather than as a disease. What you need to do is regain your balance.

One of the key ways to do this involves addressing negative emotions that may be trapped beneath your level of awareness. My favorite method of emotional cleansing is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a form of psychological acupressure.

If you have severe depression, it would be best to consult with a mental health professional who is also an EFT practitioner. But for most of you with depression symptoms, this is a technique you can learn to do effectively on your own. In fact, it’s so easy that children are learning it.

There are other effective stress-management methods you could try as well, such as meditation, journaling, breathing exercises, yoga, or simply sharing your feelings with a close friend.

Experiment with a number of approaches, and then pick the methods you find most helpful but please remember that although it is very easy to learn EFT and far less expensive to use it yourself, it is nearly always better to seek a professional to perform EFT with you as it truly is an art that takes many years of refined practice to maximize its effectiveness.

2. Get Regular Exercise

Regular exercise is one of the “secret weapons” to overcoming depression. It works by helping to normalize your insulin levels while boosting the “feel good” hormones in your brain.

As Dr. James S. Gordon, MD, a world-renowned expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, said:

“What we’re finding in the research on physical exercise is that exercise is at least as good as antidepressants for helping people who are depressed… physical exercise changes the level of serotonin in your brain. And it increases your endorphin levels, your “feel good hormones.”

And also—and these are amazing studies—exercise can increase the number of cells in your brain, in the region of the brain called the hippocampus. These studies were first done on animals, and they’re very important because sometimes in depression, there are fewer of those cells in the hippocampus.

But you can actually change your brain with exercise. So it’s got to be part of everybody’s treatment, everybody’s plan.”

For more information, please review my article about the many ways exercise can benefit your brain.

3. Improve Your General Nutrition

Another factor that cannot be overlooked is your diet. Foods have an immense impact on your body and your brain, and eating whole foods as described in my nutrition planwill best support your mental and physical health.

Avoiding sugar (particularly fructose) and grains will help normalize your insulin and leptin levels, which is another important aspect of depression. Sugar causes chronic inflammation, which disrupts your body’s normal immune function and can wreak havoc on your brain.

Sugar also suppresses a key growth hormone called BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), which promotes healthy brain neurons and plays a vital role in memory. BDNF levels are critically low in people with depression, which animal models suggest may actually be causative.

4. Supplement Your Diet with Omega-3 Fatty Acids

I strongly recommend taking a high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fat, like krill oil. This may be the single most important nutrient for optimal brain function, thereby preventing depression.

DHA is one of the Omega-3 fatty acids in fish and krill oil, and your brain is highly dependent on it. Low DHA levels have been linked to depression, memory loss, Schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

5. Let the Sun Shine Down on You

Have you ever noticed how great it can feel to spend time outdoors on a sunny day? Well, it turns out that getting safe sun exposure, which allows your body to produce vitamin D, is great for your mood.

One study even found that people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to depression than those who received adequate vitamin D. You canoptimize your vitamin D either by sunlight exposure or by using a safe tanning bed, or by taking a high-quality vitamin D3 supplement.

6. Think Twice Before Filling that Prescription

As Davis suggests in his article, “Think twice, be skeptical, and question a simplistic diagnosis you might receive after discussing your condition for a short time with a rushed practitioner.”

This is sound advice indeed.

It is easy to become seduced into thinking a pill might relieve your pain, especially when it comes with the endorsement of your physician. Feeling depressed is never pleasant, and you naturally want to escape it as quickly as possible.

But drugs should always be your last choice, and antidepressants are no exception.

There is a better way! You wouldn’t want to expose yourself to the enormous risks these drugs present, especially for so little gain. Hang in there, and if you implement the healthy strategies above, I bet you’ll soon find yourself feeling better.

Depression Articles

General

  • The Physical Toll of Loneliness
  • Can Self-Help Make You Feel Worse?
  • Dial H for Happiness: How Neuroengineering May Change Your Brain
  • Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression
  • Simple Strategy to Remain Happy
  • The Secret of How to Be Happy
  • Treatment Options for Healing Depression

Depression and Exercise

  • Is Exercise the Best Drug for Depression?
  • 5 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Exercise
  • When Drugs and Therapy Don’t Cure Depression, Running Will
  • Best Kept Secret for Treating Depression

Depression and Diet

  • Links Between Sugar and Mental Health
  • Can Your Diet Prevent Depression?
  • Can Omega-3 Fats Prevent Depression?
  • Is Salt Nature’s Antidepressant?
  • How Eating This Type of Fat Offers New Hope for Depression…
  • What’s In That? How Food Affects Your Behavior
  • The Depressing Truth About Vitamin D Deficiency

Other Causative Factors

  • Early Childhood Stress Can Have a Lingering Effect on Your Health
  • Warning: Potentially Deadly Vitamin Deficiency Affects 25% Adults
  • How Vaccines Can Damage Your Brain
  • Vaccines, Depression and Neurodegeneration After Age 50

Antidepressant Drugs

  • The MOST Effective Treatment for Depression Isn’t Drugs… But You’ll Never Hear That From Your Psychiatrist
  • Five Ways to Help Beat Depression Without Antidepressants
  • New Study Finds Antidepressants No Better Than Placebo
  • Antidepressants Linked to Increased Stroke Risk
  • Why Antidepressants Don’t Work?
  • Are Psychiatric Drugs Necessary?
  • Warning! Drug Company Buries Unfavorable Antidepressant Drug Studies
  • 10 Antidepressant Alternatives Proven to Work
  • Do Antidepressants Make Bones Brittle?
  • Acne Drug Linked To Suicide Risk
  • Antidepressants and Violence
  • The Secret Power of Sugar Pills
  • Dangerous Antidepressants Elevate Diabetes Risk
  • Antidepressants Increase Stillbirth Risks
  • How Antidepressants Affect Your Immune System
  • Adults Vulnerable to Suicidal Effects of Antidepressants
  • Was Prozac’s Link to Suicide Intentionally Covered Up?
  • Suicide Caution Mandated for Antidepressants
  • Sugar Pills Work as Well as Antidepressants
  • Prozac Possible ‘Link’ to Brain Tumors

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), aka “Winter Blues

  • Light Therapy Promising for Treating Major Depression
  • Winter Workouts Can Boost Your Mood
  • 5 Tips to Conquer Your Winter Blues Now!
  • The Bright Idea Behind Treating SAD
  • How Sunlight Can Improve Your Mental Health

Postpartum Depression

  • Steps to Recovering From Delivery That Every Woman Needs to Know
  • Newborns Growth Slowed by Postpartum Depression?

Filed Under: Thoughts for the Day Tagged With: Alzheimer's, antidepressants, brittle bones, depression, DHA, diet, Dr. Mercola, essential fatty acids, exercise, JAMA, memory loss, nutrition, omega 3, Schizophrenia, side-effects, SSRI, stroke, sugar, suicide, sunshine

Magnesium: An Invisible Deficiency That Could Be Harming Your Health

January 23, 2015 By Sherri

Magnesium: An Invisible Deficiency That Could Be Harming Your Health

Magnesium Deficiency

Story at-a-glance+

By Dr. Mercola

Magnesium is a mineral used by every organ in your body, especially your heart, muscles, and kidneys.1 If you suffer from unexplained fatigue or weakness, abnormal heart rhythms or even muscle spasms and eye twitches, low levels of magnesium could be to blame.

If you’ve recently had a blood test, you might assume it would show a magnesium deficiency. But only 1 percent of magnesium in your body is distributed in your blood, making a simple sample of magnesium from a serum magnesium blood test not very useful.

Most magnesium is stored in your bones and organs, where it is used for many biological functions. Yet, it’s quite possible to be deficient and not know it, which is why magnesium deficiency has been dubbed the “invisible deficiency.”

By some estimates, up to 80 percent of Americans are not getting enough magnesium and may be deficient. Other research shows only about 25 percent of US adults are getting the recommended daily amount of 310 to 320 milligrams (mg) for women and 400 to 420 for men.2

Even more concerning, consuming even this amount is “just enough to ward off outright deficiency,” according to Dr. Carolyn Dean, a medical and naturopathic doctor.

Magnesium Deficiency May Trigger 22 Medical Conditions

 

Download Interview Transcript

Magnesium is often thought of primarily as a mineral for your heart and bones, but this is misleading. Researchers have now detected 3,751 magnesium-binding sites on human proteins, indicating that its role in human health and disease may have been vastly underestimated.3

Magnesium is also found in more than 300 different enzymes in your body and plays a role in your body’s detoxification processes, making it important for helping to prevent damage from environmental chemicals, heavy metals, and other toxins. In addition, magnesium is necessary for:

  • Activating muscles and nerves
  • Creating energy in your body by activating adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
  • Helping digest proteins, carbohydrates, and fats
  • Serving as a building block for RNA and DNA synthesis
  • Acting as a precursor for neurotransmitters like serotonin

Dr. Dean has studied and written about magnesium for more than 15 years. The latest addition of her book, The Magnesium Miracle, came out in 2014 and in it you can learn about 22 medical areas that magnesium deficiency triggers or causes, all of which have all been scientifically proven. This includes:4

Anxiety and panic attacks Asthma Blood clots
Bowel diseases Cystitis Depression
Detoxification Diabetes Fatigue
Heart disease Hypertension Hypoglycemia
Insomnia Kidney disease Liver disease
Migraine Musculoskeletal conditions (fibromyalgia, cramps, chronic back pain, etc.) Nerve problems
Obstetrics and gynecology (PMS, infertility, and preeclampsia) Osteoporosis Raynaud’s syndrome
Tooth decay

Early signs of magnesium deficiency include loss of appetite, headache, nausea, fatigue, and weakness. An ongoing magnesium deficiency can lead to more serious symptoms, including:

Numbness and tingling Muscle contractions and cramps Seizures
Personality changes Abnormal heart rhythms Coronary spasms

The Role of Magnesium in Diabetes, Cancer, and More

Most people do not think about magnesium when they think about how to prevent chronic disease, but it plays an essential role. For instance, there have been several significant studies about magnesium’s role in keeping your metabolism running efficiently—specifically in terms of insulin sensitivity, glucose regulation, and protection from type 2 diabetes.

Higher magnesium intake reduces risk of impaired glucose and insulin metabolism and slows progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes in middle-aged Americans.5Researchers stated, “Magnesium intake may be particularly beneficial in offsetting your risk of developing diabetes, if you are high risk.”

Multiple studies have also shown that higher magnesium intake is associated with a higher bone mineral density in both men and women,6 and research from Norway has even found an association between magnesium in drinking water and a lower risk of hip fractures.7

Magnesium may even help lower your risk of cancer, and a study published in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that higher intakes of dietary magnesium were associated with a lower risk of colorectal tumors.8

Results from the meta-analysis indicated that for every 100-mg increase in magnesium intake, the risk of colorectal tumor decreased by 13 percent, while the risk of colorectal cancer was lowered by 12 percent. The researchers noted magnesium’s anti-cancer effects may be related to its ability to reduce insulin resistance, which may positively affect the development of tumors.

Surprising Factors That Influence Your Magnesium Levels

Seaweed and green leafy vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard can be excellent sources of magnesium, as are some beans, nuts, and seeds, like pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds. Avocados also contain magnesium. Juicing your vegetables is an excellent option to ensure you’re getting enough of them in your diet.

However, most foods grown today are deficient in magnesium and other minerals, so getting enough isn’t simply a matter of eating magnesium-rich foods (although this isimportant too). According to Dr. Dean:

“Magnesium is farmed out of the soil much more than calcium… A hundred years ago, we would get maybe 500 milligrams of magnesium in an ordinary diet. Now we’re lucky to get 200 milligrams.”

Herbicides, like glyphosate also act as chelators, effectively blocking the uptake and utilization of minerals in so many foods grown today. As a result, it can be quite difficult to find truly magnesium-rich foods. Cooking and processing further depletes magnesium.

Meanwhile, certain foods can actually influence your body’s absorption of magnesium. If you drink alcohol in excess, for instance, it may interfere with your body’s absorption of vitamin D, which in turn is helpful for magnesium absorption. If you eat a lot of sugar, this can also cause your body to excrete magnesium through your kidneys, “resulting in a net loss,” according to Dr. Danine Fruge, associate medical director at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Florida.9 The following factors are also associated with lower magnesium levels:10

  • Excessive intake of soda or caffeine
  • Menopause
  • Older age (older adults are more likely to be magnesium deficient because absorption decreases with age and the elderly are more likely to take medications that can interfere with absorption)
  • Certain medications, including diuretics, certain antibiotics (such as gentamicin and tobramycin), corticosteroids (prednisone or Deltasone), antacids, and insulin
  • An unhealthy digestive system, which impairs your body’s ability to absorb magnesium (Crohn’s disease, leaky gut, etc.)

Calcium, Vitamin K2, and Vitamin D Must Be Balanced with Magnesium

It may seem like you could remedy the risks of low magnesium simply by taking a supplement, but it’s not quite that simple. When you’re taking magnesium, you need to consider calcium, vitamin D3 and vitamin K2 as well, since these all work synergistically with one another. Excessive amounts of calcium without the counterbalance of magnesium can lead to a heart attack and sudden death, for instance. Research on the Paleolithic or caveman diet has shown that the ratio of calcium to magnesium in the diet that our bodies evolved to eat is 1-to-1.11Americans in general tend to have a higher calcium-to-magnesium ratio in their diet, averaging about 3.5-to-1.

If you have too much calcium and not enough magnesium, your muscles will tend to go into spasm, and this has consequences for your heart in particular. “What happens is, the muscle and nerve function that magnesium is responsible for is diminished. If you don’t have enough magnesium, your muscles go into spasm. Calcium causes muscle to contract. If you had a balance, the muscles would do their thing. They’d relax, contract, and create their activity,” Dr. Dean explains.

When balancing calcium and magnesium, also keep in mind that vitamins K2 and D need to be considered. These four nutrients perform an intricate dance together, with one supporting the other. Lack of balance between these nutrients is one of the reasons why calcium supplements have become associated with increased risk of heart attacks and stroke, and why some people experience vitamin D toxicity. Part of the explanation for these adverse side effects is that vitamin K2 keeps calcium in its appropriate place. If you’re K2 deficient, added calcium can cause more problems than it solves, by accumulating in the wrong places, like your soft tissue.

Similarly, if you opt for oral vitamin D, you need to also consume it in your food or take supplemental vitamin K2 and more magnesium. Taking mega doses of vitamin D supplements without sufficient amounts of K2 and magnesium can lead to vitamin D toxicity and magnesium deficiency symptoms, which include inappropriate calcification that may damage your heart.

Tips for Increasing Your Magnesium Levels

One way to really increase your magnesium, as well as many other important plant-based nutrients, is by juicing your greens. I typically drink one pint to one quart of fresh green vegetable juice every day, and this is one of my primary sources of magnesium. Organic foods may have more magnesium if grown in nutrient-rich soils but it is very difficult to make that determination. If you opt for a supplement, be aware that there are a wide variety of magnesium supplements on the market, because magnesium must be bound to another substance. There’s simply no such thing as a 100 percent magnesium supplement.

The substance used in any given compound can affect the absorption and bioavailability of the magnesium, and may provide slightly different, or targeted, health benefits. The table that follows summarizes some of the differences between the various forms. Magnesium threonate and citrate are some of the best sources, as it seems to penetrate cell membranes, including your mitochondria, which results in higher energy levels. Additionally, it also penetrates your blood-brain barrier and seems to do wonders to treat and prevent dementia and improve memory. If you take a supplement, you can use the “bowel test” to determine if you’re taking too much magnesium. Dr. Dean explains:12

“The best way to tell if you are getting enough magnesium is the “bowel test”. You know when you have too much magnesium when your stools become loose. This, in fact, may be a blessing for people with constipation… [which] is one of the many ways magnesium deficiency manifests.”

Besides taking a supplement, another way to improve your magnesium status is to take regular Epsom salt baths or foot baths. Epsom salt is a magnesium sulfate that can absorb into your body through your skin. Magnesium oil can also be used for topical application and absorption. Whatever supplement you choose, be sure to avoid any containing magnesium stearate, a common but potentially hazardous additive.

Magnesium glycinate is a chelated form of magnesium that tends to provide the highest levels of absorption and bioavailability and is typically considered ideal for those who are trying to correct a deficiency. Magnesium oxide is a non-chelated type of magnesium, bound to an organic acid or a fatty acid. Contains 60 percent magnesium, and has stool softening properties
Magnesium chloride/Magnesium lactate contain only 12 percent magnesium, but has better absorption than others, such as magnesium oxide, which contains five times more magnesium Magnesium sulfate/Magnesium hydroxide (milk of magnesia) are typically used as laxatives. Be aware that it’s easy to overdose on these, so ONLY take as directed
Magnesium carbonate, which has antacid properties, contains 45 percent magnesium Magnesium taurate contains a combination of magnesium and taurine, an amino acid. Together, they tend to provide a calming effect on your body and mind
Magnesium citrate is magnesium with citric acid, which like most magnesium supplements has laxative properties but is well absorbed and cost effective Magnesium threonate is a newer, emerging type of magnesium supplement that appears promising, primarily due to its superior ability to penetrate the mitochondrial membrane, and may be the best magnesium supplement on the market

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: asthma, ATP, back pain, blood clots, bowel, calcium, carbohydrates, coronary, depression, detoxification, diabetes, DNA, Dr. Mercola, energy, fatigue, fats, fibromyalgia, heart, hypertension, hypoglycemia, insomnia, kidney, liver, magnesium, migraine, muscles, nerves, neurotrasmitters, numbness, nutrition, nutrition deficiency, osteoporosis, protein, RNA, seizures, serotonin, tingline, tooth decay, vitamin d, vitamin k2

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Many Disorders

January 23, 2015 By Sherri

Vitamin D DeficiencyJanuary 02, 2014

Story at-a-glance+

By Dr. Mercola

Vitamin D research continues to impress upon us the importance of appropriate sun exposure as the ideal way to optimize your vitamin D levels.

Winter limits sun exposure for many up to six months of the year. During those times, your next best bet would be artificial UVB light, as UV ray exposure also appears to have health benefits above and beyond the production of vitamin D.

One of the most damaging elements of standard tanning beds are the magnetic ballasts (which make that loud buzzing noise you hear in many tanning salons). If an electronic ballast is used, there are far less damaging EMFs, which provide most of the danger from tanning beds.

The other concern is related to the bulbs used, as some may contain only UVA light which is primarily responsible for the tan, but doesn’t increase vitamin D levels.  For much of the northern hemisphere, vitamin D production is not possible from the sun during the winter months.  You must use artificial UVB light or obtain vitamin D from your diet during this time.

The benefits of UVB exposure from the sun or artificial light include but are not limited to the production of nitric oxide—a compound that lowers your blood pressure. Despite its name, vitamin D is not a vitamin. It’s actually a potent neuroregulatory steroidal hormone, which helps explain some of its health impacts.

It has become abundantly clear that vitamin D deficiency is a growing epidemic across the world and could be contributing to hundreds of common health problems. In fact, correcting your vitamin D deficiency may cut your risk of dying from any cause by 50 percent, according to one analysis.

If this sounds too incredible to be true, consider that vitamin D influences nearly 3,000of your 24,000 genes. This occurs via vitamin D receptors, which can be found throughout your body, and should come as no great surprise given that humans evolved in the sun.

Vitamin D Beneficially Affects Gene Activity

Just one example of an important gene that vitamin D up-regulates is your ability to fight infections and chronic inflammation. It also produces over 200 anti-microbial peptides, the most important of which is cathelicidin, a naturally-occurring broad-spectrum antibiotic.

This is one of the explanations for why vitamin D is so effective against colds and influenza.

According to a January 2013 press release by Orthomolecular Medicine,1 there are now 33,800 medical papers with vitamin D in the title or abstract, and this veritable mountain of research shows that vitamin D has far-reaching benefits to your physical and mental health. Such research has shown that vitamin D can improve:

  • Pregnancy outcomes (reduced risk of Cesarean section and pre-eclampsia)
  • Type 1 and 2 diabetes
  • Heart disease and stroke
  • Autism, Alzheimer’s, and other brain dysfunction
  • Bacterial and viral infections

Some of the most recently published studies, which I’ll review here, demonstrate how boosting your vitamin D levels can improve depression and pain in diabetics, Crohn’s disease, and breast cancer.

Relevance of Vitamin D in Crohn’s Disease

While previous research has associated low vitamin D levels with an increased risk ofCrohn’s disease and shown that correcting your vitamin D deficiency can improve symptoms of the disease,2 one of the most recent studies3 found a “significant interaction between vitamin D levels and Crohn’s disease susceptibility, as well as a significant association between vitamin D levels and genotype.”

Serum vitamin D levels were found to be significantly lower in patients with Crohn’s disease. Of the seven DNA sequence variations examined for effects, two variants showed a significant association with vitamin D levels in those with Crohn’s, and four variants were associated with vitamin D levels among controls.

In short, it shows that vitamin D can affect genetic expression associated with Crohn’s disease, and make matters either better or worse, depending on whether you have enough of it or not.

Vitamin D May Reduce Depression and Pain

In related news, vitamin D supplementation has been found to reduce both depression and pain in diabetic women. As reported by PsychCentral:4

“The investigators set out to determine how vitamin D supplementation might affect women with type 2 diabetes who were also suffering from depression.

At the beginning of the study, 61 percent of women reported neuropathic pain, such as shooting or burning pain in their legs and feet, and 74 percent had sensory pain, such as numbness and tingling in their hands, fingers and legs.

During the course of the study, the participants took a 50,000 IU vitamin D2 supplement every week for 6 months. By the end of the study, the women’s depression levels had significantly improved following the supplementation.

Furthermore, participants who suffered from neuropathic and/or sensory pain at the beginning of the study reported that these symptoms decreased at 3 and 6 months following vitamin D2 supplementation.”

According to lead researcher Todd Doyle, Ph.D., vitamin D supplementation “is a promising treatment for both pain and depression in type 2 diabetes.” However, I would note that you’d probably get even better results using vitamin D3 rather than prescription D2. In fact, previous research suggests vitamin D2 might do more harm than good in the long term…

Why I Recommend Vitamin D3 Over D2

Drisdol is a synthetic form of vitamin D2—made by irradiating fungus and plant matter—and is the form of vitamin D typically prescribed by doctors. This is not the type produced by your body in response to sun or safe tanning bed exposure, which is vitamin D3.

According to a 2012 meta-analysis by the Cochrane Database,5 which assessed mortality rates for people who supplemented their diets with D2 versus those who did so with D3, there are significant differences in outcome between the two. The analysis of 50 randomized controlled trials, which included a total of 94,000 participants, showed:

  • A six percent relative risk reduction among those who used vitamin D3
  • A two percent relative risk increase among those who used D2

That said, the featured research certainly sheds light on the role vitamin D can play in the management of type 2 diabetes and associated side effects. And when you consider that an estimated 60 percent of type 2 diabetics are vitamin D deficient,6there’s certainly plenty of room for improvement.

Additional support for the theory that vitamin D can be beneficial in the fight against type 2 diabetes was published in last year.7 Here, the researchers found “a strong additive interaction between abdominal obesity and insufficient 25(OH)D in regard to insulin resistance.” They also claim 47 percent of the increased odds of insulin resistance can be explained by the interaction between insufficient vitamin D levels and a high body mass index (BMI).

Yet another study 8 published in Diabetes Care also suggests vitamin D supplements may help prevent type 2 diabetes mellitus in people with pre-diabetes. While the study is only an observational one and cannot establish causality, the researchers report that the participants who had the highest vitamin D levels were 30 percent less likely to develop diabetes during the three-year evaluation period, compared to those with the lowest levels.

Cut Your Breast Cancer Risk with Vitamin D, Cancer Surgeon Suggests

Meanwhile, a recent Science World Report9 highlighted the recommendation by British breast cancer surgeon, Professor Kefah Mokbel, who urges women to take daily vitamin D supplements to cut their risk of breast cancer. According to the featured article:

“Prof. Mokbel has also requested Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, to make [vitamin D] pills freely available as this would result in saving about a 1,000 lives annually. ‘I am calling for all women from the age of 20 to be given free vitamin D supplements on the NHS because it is effective in protecting against breast cancer,’ Prof. Mokbel said.

…[R]esearch10, 11 conducted by the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb, which analyzed menopausal women from rural eastern Nebraska for over four years, revealed that taking vitamin D supplements along with calcium cut about 60 percent risk of cancer, including breast, lung and colon cancer…’It’s inexpensive, it’s safe, and it’s easy to take. It’s something that should be considered by a lot of people,’ says Joan Lappe, professor of nursing and medicine at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb. ‘It’s low-risk with maybe a high pay-off.’”

Vitamin D Is Critical for Cancer Prevention

Indeed, an ever growing number of studies show that vitamin D has tremendous protective effects against a variety of different cancers, including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, breast, prostate, and skin cancers. Theories linking vitamin D deficiency to cancer have been tested and confirmed in more than 200 epidemiological studies, and understanding of its physiological basis stems from more than 2,500 laboratory trials.

For example, a 2007 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine12concluded that a serum 25(OH)D level of more than 33 ng/mL was associated with a 50 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer. And research published in the International Journal of Cancer two years ago13 found that a mere 10 ng/ml increase in serum vitamin D levels was associated with a 15 percent reduction in colorectal cancer incidence and 11 percent reduction in breast cancer incidence.

Another 2007 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition14 found that after four years of follow up, cancer-free survival was 77 percent higher in women who received 1,100 IU vitamin D and 1,450 mg calcium per day, compared to those who received either a placebo or calcium by itself. According to Carole Baggerly, founder ofGrassrootsHealth, as much as 90 percent of ordinary breast cancer may in fact be related to vitamin D deficiency. Breast cancer has even been described as a “vitamin D deficiency syndrome,” much like the commoncold and seasonal flu.

Most Important—Maintaining Optimal Vitamin D Serum Levels

Of utmost importance is the maintenance of a therapeutically beneficial serum level year-round. Here, studies indicate that the bare minimum for cancer prevention is around 40 ng/ml. Research suggests an ideal level might be around 60-80 ng/ml. A 2009 review article15 titled: “Vitamin D for Cancer Prevention: Global Perspective,” published in Annals of Epidemiology states that:

“Higher serum levels of the main circulating form of vitamin D, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), are associated with substantially lower incidence rates of colon, breast, ovarian, renal, pancreatic, aggressive prostate and other cancers. Epidemiological findings combined with newly discovered mechanisms suggest a new model of cancer etiology that accounts for these actions of 25(OH)D and calcium. Its seven phases are disjunction, initiation, natural selection, overgrowth, metastasis, involution, and transition (abbreviated DINOMIT). Vitamin D metabolites prevent disjunction of cells and are beneficial in other phases.

It is projected that raising the minimum year-around serum 25(OH)D level to 40 to 60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L) would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three fourths of deaths from these diseases in the United States and Canada, based on observational studies combined with a randomized trial.

Such intakes also are expected to reduce case-fatality rates of patients who have breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer by half... The time has arrived for nationally coordinated action to substantially increase intake of vitamin D and calcium.” [Emphasis mine]

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General Supplementation Guidelines

As a general guideline, research by GrassrootsHealth suggests that adults need about 8,000 IUs per day to achieve a serum level of 40 ng/ml. That said, I strongly recommend boosting your vitamin D levels through appropriate sun exposure whenever possible. If you do opt for a vitamin D supplement, please remember that you also need to boost your intake of vitamin K2 through food and/or a supplement. If you’re getting your vitamin D from the sun, this is not as critical, although you’d be wise to make sure you’re getting sufficient amounts of vitamin K2 from your diet either way.

How do you know if your vitamin D level is in the right range? The most important factor is having your vitamin D serum level tested every six months, as people vary widely in their response to ultraviolet exposure or oral D3 supplementation. Your goal is to reach a clinically relevant serum level of 50-70 ng/ml, and to maintain that level year-round.  You should test at your highest point, which is typically August and again at your lowest point, which is usually February.

Knowing your vitamin D levels is one of the most important tests you can take, so please, if you haven’t checked your levels before do it now – I cannot stress the importance of this enough.

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How Vitamin D Performance Testing Can Help Optimize Your Health

A robust and growing body of research clearly shows that vitamin D is absolutely critical for good health and disease prevention. Vitamin D affects your DNA through vitamin D receptors (VDRs), which bind to specific locations of the human genome. Scientists have identified nearly 3,000 genes that are influenced by vitamin D levels, and vitamin D receptors have been found throughout the human body.

Is it any wonder then that no matter what disease or condition is investigated, vitamin D appears to play a crucial role? This is why I am so excited about the D*Action Projectby GrassrootsHealth. It is showing how you can take action today on known science with a consensus of experts without waiting for institutional lethargy. It has shown how by combining the science of measurement (of vitamin D levels) with the personal choice of taking action and, the value of education about individual measures that one can truly be in charge of their own health.

In order to spread this health movement to more communities, the project needs your involvement. This was an ongoing campaign during the month of February, and will become an annual event.

To participate, simply purchase the D*Action Measurement Kit and follow the registration instructions included. (Please note that 100 percent of the proceeds from the kits go to fund the research project. I do not charge a single dime as a distributor of the test kits.)

As a participant, you agree to test your vitamin D levels twice a year during a five-year study, and share your health status to demonstrate the public health impact of this nutrient. There is a $65 fee every six months for your sponsorship of this research project, which includes a test kit to be used at home, and electronic reports on your ongoing progress. You will get a follow up email every six months reminding you “it’s time for your next test and health survey.”

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Filed Under: Thoughts for the Day Tagged With: Alzheimer's, Autism, breast, breast cancer, Crohn's, depression, Dr. Mercola, immunity, inflammatory bowel disease, nutrition, pain, prostate, sunshine, viral infections, vitamin d

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About Me

I am a singer, dancer, actress, model. ... Oh wait! That was my life BEFORE Lyme Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Traumatic Brain Injury and Chemical Injury. Join me on my pursuit to find joy in the midst of loss and pain! The one thing I certainly still have in this life is my humor! I hope you enjoy my blog full of information about living with disabling illness, pain and loss, as well as counting my blessings and just being plain silly!

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