Using Tech to Tame the Mighty Teen Migraine
Whether your teen has recently begun to experience the pain and frustration of migraine headaches or has been suffering from them for years, the National Institutes of Health hopes their new app, Migraine Trainer, will help.
According to Healthline.com, it is estimated that up to 10 percent of school-aged children experience migraines. By age 17, roughly 8 percent of boys and 23 percent of girls have experienced a migraine. They interfere with daily life in myriad ways resulting in such things as an increase in school absenteeism and/or a reduction in social activities.
Stress, certain foods, and too much or too little sleep are known migraine triggers.
In an effort to help teens 13 and older better control and cope with their migraines, the app Migraine Trainer is now available. The hope is that by tracking how often they occur, how long they last, and where the pain appears in the head, the sufferer, with the help of their physician, will come up with their own personalized plan for managing them.
The app can also help track sleep, exercise, and hydration levels that are/were present just before the migraine started. Tracking habits can help sufferers pinpoint tendencies that lead to a migraine and how they’ve been managed in the past. Migraine Trainer is reported to also offer tips for dealing with migraine pain.
The app can be downloaded for free from Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store.
Can a Calorie-Restricted Diet Make Bones Weaker?
Not to be confused with having a healthy diet and exercise as a plus for strong bones, a new study reported in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research stated that combining a calorie-restrictive diet with a robust exercise regime may increase the risk of bone break or fracture in some individuals.
The study performed in a lab on mice was initially intended to determine what happens to bone marrow fat and bone health when subjected to calorie restriction. The study was performed by first splitting the mice into two groups. One group was then fed a regular diet and the other a calorie-restricted diet composed of 30 percent fewer calories.
The calorie-restricted mice received supplements of vitamins and minerals so nutrient values matched those of the mice on the normal diet. Then the mice were further split into groups that were sedentary and those that exercised for a period of six weeks, creating four groups of mice with four different patterns of diet and exercise: regular diet without exercise, a calorie-restricted diet without exercise, a regular diet with running exercise, and a calorie-restricted diet with running exercise.
While the study expectedly showed that adding exercise to calorie restriction reduces bone marrow fat, it unexpectedly showed that it also led to a reduction in the overall quantity and quality of bone.
Researchers were able to conclude that bone loss in the calorie-restricted mice was due to calorie reduction alone and not a lack of nutrients, since the mice were provided with the same vitamins and minerals as those that had the regular diets. They were also surprised to find that when conditions of calorie restriction are imposed and then combined with exercise, exercise appears to make bones more fragile—not stronger.
These new findings will be of particular interest to women, who are already prone to bone loss as they age, due in part to the decrease in estrogen levels they experience post-menopause. Researchers caution that further study is warranted and planned to learn more about the underlying mechanisms that produced their findings.
Turmeric: What’s Science? What’s Hearsay?
Currently competing with CBD oils for the biggest headlines in health news is the use of turmeric to cure everything from joint pain to acne. While the medicinal properties of the spice have been recognized for thousands of years in India, it has taken sometime for Western medicine to actually study its efficacy.
What is it about turmeric that has everyone buzzing about its health effects? What can it really do? We found that the greatest discrepancy pits science-backed data against user reviews.
Let’s look at why it does work for some issues now and what scientists are hoping it may do in the future. Benefits of turmeric are derived from a compound it possesses called curcumin.
Scientists already believe that this substance is most advantageous in the battle against chronic inflammation. Perhaps that is why the topic of turmeric is popular in general, as chronic inflammation in the body has been linked to a wide range of diseases and conditions, including heart disease, stroke, and auto-immune disorders.
It is prudent to note here that inflammation in the body is its natural response or warning that something isn’t right, and in the short-term it can be beneficial, especially if it is signaling that pathogens like bacteria have entered the body. Left unchecked, bacteria can kill you. This is not the type of inflammation that turmeric would be addressing.
Where it helps most
Scientific evidence does show that in the case of chronic inflammation especially where it concerns arthritic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, turmeric can be very helpful in reducing the symptoms of joint pain and stiffness. It’s ability to do this lies in its classification as a bioactive substance that can fight inflammation at the molecular level.
The benefit of natural pain relief as opposed to taking a synthetic drug to help with the symptoms of these conditions, should not be diminished, however, as this is certainly a significant development when it comes to treatment options.
Other very encouraging news is reported about its potential for lowering the risk of heart disease because it improves the function of the endothelium, or the lining of the blood vessels. The endothelium plays a role in blood pressure regulation, blood clotting, and inflammatory response, among other vital functions.
Within the specter of anti-aging, scientists are excited to see the effect curcumin has as an antioxidant. Aging and many diseases take root from oxidative damage, which can be caused by free radical development in the body. Curcumin works to defend the development of free radicals in the body and boosts the activity of the body’s antioxidant enzymes.
More research is needed
Scientists are also optimistic about the role curcumin may play in preventing some cancers. Research in the lab, however, has only been done with mice. That said, its ability to hinder and even stop cancerous cell growth has been most encouraging.
Other conditions showing promise under scientific study include curcumin’s use to combat digestive disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as Type 2 Diabetes, Depression, Premenstrual Syndrome, metabolic issues, and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Popular uses
It seems whenever a natural substance or product becomes recognized within the health community as beneficial there is always some amount of curiosity among the populous to see “what else” it might be good for, especially since it is not classified as a drug and is readily available. Current online health chats are abuzz with reviews for turmeric’s role in helping to address headache pain, viral infections, and even acne. Those thinking to merely ingest turmeric to illicit results, will be sadly disappointed, however.
Notes on dosage
By composition, turmeric itself only contains 3 percent curcumin, so no matter how much you may add this spice to your diet by adapting it to your recipes, you will not be able to merely ingest enough to help with your arthritis or prevent heart disease. To complicate matters curcumin is also poorly absorbed into the bloodstream. (Black pepper, which contains piperine, is often added to supplements as it can markedly improve the absorption rate.)
If you have a condition you feel may benefit from a curcumin boost, it is best to see your physician who can advise you as to the type of supplement that would work best for you.
