8 Tips for Staying Healthy and Happy During the Holidays

Christmas, Hanukah, New Year’s—these are supposed to be times of celebration, togetherness, and happiness. Yet, they can bring challenges to our physical and emotional health. Here are 8 tips for staying healthy and happy during this holiday season.

1. Eat well. It’s common to pack on 5-10 pounds during the holiday season, but there are ways you can eat both healthy and well! Know which foods are high in caloric content and low in nutrition. Don’t deprive yourself of such treats, but indulge in moderation. Eat smaller meals instead of “saving yourself” for one huge buffet. Opt for healthy options at home, and when visiting others, bring a healthy dish to share. Be careful of liquid calories, including alcoholic beverages.

2. Stay active. Exercise is just as important during the holidays as any other time of the year. You should be active at least four to five times a week, preferably with some aerobic exercise every day. The weather may be cold outside, but the winter offers additional fun, too! Ice-skating, sledding, snow sprints—all of these can be great exercise. Enlist your loved ones to join you for quality bonding time.

3. Prevent illness and injuries. Colds and the flu are most prevalent in the winter. Prevent them by washing your hands regularly and urging others to do the same. Stay warm by dressing in layers. Sprinkle sand on icy patches. Watch young ones, and assist the elderly, who are at increased risk of falls and other injuries during this time.

4. Check your heating system. Making sure your heating works and is safe. Carbon monoxide emergencies can be fatal. Install a carbon monoxide detector and test it once a month. Keep grills and generators out of the house, and don’t run your car for long periods of time in the garage. Most residential fires also occur in the winter; never leave fireplaces, stoves, and candles unattended.

5. Travel safely. Whether you are going down the block or halfway across the world, follow extra precautions. Give yourself plenty of time in the additional holiday traffic. Never drink and drive. Be on the lookout for reports of extreme weather and heed warnings. If you’re traveling away from home, make sure to pack and take your medications. Know how to contact your doctor when you are away and have a medical problem, and where the local ER is.

6. De-stress. Holidays can be a stress time. You may be working, and feel the stress of managing your work duties along with additional commitments to your friends and family. You may feel the financial stress of gifts, and the interpersonal stress of conflicts. Try to anticipate sources of stress and develop a plan to manage them. This may involve committing to fewer get-togethers or setting a tighter budget. Don’t feel guilty; you have to take care of yourself before you can take of others.

7. Help others. Depression and suicidality increase during the holidays. Watch for signs of depression among your friends and family. Take an active role to support those in need. Invite those colleagues or friends who are alone over the holidays to spend them with you. Volunteer and give to those less fortunate.

8. Treat yourself. The holiday spirit is about helping others around you, but you also have to make time to take care of yourself. So treat yourself with something over the holidays. It may be something as simple as sleep. Sleep in and enjoy a day of rest; you need it. How about reading that book you’ve been meaning to for a long time, or getting a manicure or massage? Take the time to do the things that make you happy.

I hope these tips have been helpful! Do you have other tips to share? I welcome your comments. And happy holidays!

6 Ways to Get Rid of Your Headache

Got a headache? You’re not alone. Headache is the most common symptom that patients go to their doctor for. Nearly 10% of Americans suffer from regular migraines, and nearly a third of people report having a severe headache within the last three months that interfered with their daily activities.

Here are 6 ways to get rid of your headache.

#1. Rest. Most people feel better after closing their eyes and lying down. This is a common treatment for migraine sufferers, and for people with stress-induced headaches. Most of us will benefit from a rest, so find a dark place and close your eyes.

#2. Relax. Even more common than a migraine is headache induced by tension. However, especially for those who are accustomed to living a stressful life, relaxing is easier said than done. So try various techniques. Head-stretching and breathing exercises may help, as can massages, yoga, and meditation.

#3. Drink. Water, that is. Dehydration contributes to headache, and this is a problem you can fix yourself Drink two glasses of water when you feel like your headache is starting; this can help to curb it before it gets worse.

#4. Exercise. If your head hurts, exercise may be the last thing you want to do. For some people, particularly those who may have tension headaches, exercise can really help their symptoms. Regular exercise can also help prevent headaches from occurring, so try to build in at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise four times a week.

#5. Take anti-inflammatory medications. Tylenol and Ibuprofen can reduce headache symptoms. Take 650mg of Tylenol and 600mg of Ibuprofen when your symptoms first start. It’s OK to take these together, and to repeat in 6 hours if you need. Be careful that other products can contain these ingredients, in particular Tylenol (acetaminophen): check the label of other medications you’re taking to make sure you are not overdosing on it.

#6. Consider alternative treatments. Though there is no clear evidence that alternative therapies are effective for headaches, some people have great results from acupuncture, for example. Certain teas, such as peppermint and lemon-ginger, have also been associated with alleviating headaches.

Of course, it’s always important to be on the look out for more serious causes of headache, for example, sudden onset of the worst headache of your life, fever, numbness, weakness, vomiting, or other concerning symptoms. Know that everyone is different, and you should try various therapies to see what works for you. Finally, as with everything, prevention is the best medicine, so sleep well, de-stress, and practice other good lifestyle habits!

I welcome your comments! What are other things you’d like to know more about?

6 Ways to Fight End-of Summer Blues

Summer is coming to an end. Feeling down around this time is quite common, especially for those of us who live in colder climates and can see the winter approaching. Here are 6 ways to fight those end-of-summer blues:

#1. Get sunlight. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) affects up to 10% of people. You may not have full blown SAD, but use the same treatment—and the same preventive measures—to feel better. Soak up the sunlight. Open your blinds at home. Find areas at work that have natural light; perhaps take breaks in a room where the sun streams in or that’s near a skylight. Choose to walk the longer route on sunny days. Eat lunch in the park. Even if it’s chilly outside, the sunlight itself will help you.

#2. Exercise. Physical exercise alleviates stress and makes you feel healthier and happier in general. When you exercise, natural endorphins kick in that improve your mood. It may be particularly helpful if you exercise outside; a brisk power walk when it’s light outside will help you get fit, feel better, and soak up sunlight! Aim to have at least four-40 minute episodes of aerobic exercise per week.

#3. Eat summer foods. In the summer, we tend to eat healthier than in other seasons. Meals are filled with fresh fruit, raw vegetables, and big salads. Keep this up! Just because the weather is changing doesn’t mean we have to load up on the carbs. Aim to have three of these “summer meals” a week. Bring fruit and vegetable snacks to work instead of potato chips. Choose a salad over a carb-heavy lunch. A change in diet can help you feel significantly better.

#4. Sleep early and well. As it starts to get dark earlier, shift your schedule gradually to the earlier side. Make sure you are getting at least 8 hours of sleep every night. Waking up earlier helps you get more sunlight, and good sleep hygiene is essential to good physical and mental health.

#5. Keep reminders of summer with you. Display your pictures of summer vacation. Use lotions and scents with coconut and other summery smells. Light a scented candle, and break out the bubble bath. These little touches can make a difference.

#6. Make good plans for the rest of the seasons. Have some things that you are looking forward to in the fall and the winter. Perhaps it’s a vacation, or party, or other event--maybe it's as simple as viewing the fall colors. Celebrate the little things too, and treat yourself often. There are reasons to embrace the other seasons too! And if all else fails, summer isn’t that far the future again.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments about my blog and videocast. What do you use to combat those end-of-summer blues?

5 Medical Truths Your Doctor Wants You to Know

 Today's healthcare consumer is constantly barraged with conflicting information. Does wine prevent or predispose to cancer? Should I eat certain foods or avoid them? Is this new medication going to hurt me or help me? Many issues are still controversial, but there are some things that have a large amount of evidence behind them. Below are the 5 things that I want my patients to know:

1) Antibiotics will not help the common cold. Colds are caused by viruses, and antibiotics kill bacteria, which is a whole different type of organism. All of us have been through colds. We know that they are unpleasant--lots of sneezing, coughing, body aches, fever, feeling run down. All of us also know that colds will go away on their own. Some patients will swear that taking antibiotics will help them, but we know scientifically that this is not true; the cold is self-limited and was going to go away on its own anyway. Much better than taking a pill that doesn't work is to strengthen your immune system, and prevent the cold from happening in the first place. Get adequate sleep. Eat a healthy diet. If you do have a cold, drinking lots of fluids and taking tylenol and ibuprofen is key to your recovery--not antibiotics.

2) A CT scan will not help a headache. Having a headache, just like catching a cold, is unpleasant. Your head throbs. You might feel that you can't concentrate and go about your daily activities. While there are potentially serious causes of headache, the vast majority of them are due to tension headache or migraine. These will go away with time. Again, over-the-counter medications like tylenol and ibuprofen can help, as can rest in a quiet, dark room and lots of fluids. A CT scan will only show what you DON'T have, and, in the vast majority of cases, will not help make your diagnosis--and certainly won't make you feel better.

3) Every test has potential side effects. Patients often ask their doctors for tests to figure out what's wrong; in the same way, doctors often rely on tests to save them time of speaking to patients to make the diagnosis. The problem is that tests can only tell you what you DON'T have, and not what you actually have. Studies have shown that actually sitting down with the patient and talking to her will much more likely yield the diagnosis than any test. And every test has potential side effects.  CT scans involve radiation, and studies have shown that each individual scan increases your lifetime risk of getting cancer. Some CTs and MRIs involve administering contrast dye that could cause kidney damage. Even the simple blood draw can lead to complications like infection and bruising. This is not to say that you should never get tests done; it's just a reminder that tests are not always the answer, and that you should make sure you know ahead of time what the risks and benefits are of every test.

4) Lifestyle changes make a huge difference. Study after study show that the single most important contributor to decreasing your risk of heart disease, for example, is your lifestyle. You can take pills to decrease your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol, and control your diabetes--but even better is to eat a healthy diet with low saturated fat and exercising. Similarly, the single biggest risk to health that is preventable is smoking. Within even a few months of stopping smoking, the risk of cancers and heart disease begins to decrease. Don't get me wrong: it's not easy. Working on your lifestyle requires far more investment in your time and energy than popping a pill. But it's the most effective way to really make a difference in your health.

5) Aspirin is one of few medications that's been definitively shown to help you. Big pharma would like us to believe that the newest and greatest drug is the best thing out there to prevent heart attack and stroke, but actually aspirin is one of very few medications that's proven its weight. It reduces the risk of hear attack and stroke, and some studies are demonstrating that it may even be preventative against cancer. People who experience chest pain get aspirin first, before they get anything else, because it is the one thing that helps them if they are already having a heart attack. Not everyone needs to take aspirin, and there are some for whom it may be harmful (all medications, just like all tests, have side effects), but this is one more reminder that the newest and greatest isn't always the best; sometimes it's the tried and true that you need.

I hope you enjoyed these medical truths. Do you agree with them? Disagree? Are there other truths and myths that you'd like to share, or that you'd like me to look into? I'd love to hear from you. I am also starting a new YouTube Channel. This article appears as a video. Please let me know what you think!