Managing Your Health

Normally, nerves branch off the spinal cord through spaces between the vertebrae. If one of these exit spaces shrinks, it can squeeze the nerve root (the radicular nerve) and cause symptoms in the area served by the nerve. A number of problems can cause a pinched nerve, including a herniated disc, spinal stenosis, or degenerative disc disease. Age-related degenerative changes in the spine account for 70% to 90% of all cases. The good news: there are multiple options for pinched nerve treatment. People with a pinched nerve can have a positive outlook for recovery. As a result, pinched nerve treatment almost always begins with conservative therapies. Your doctor will likely recommend an over-the-counter pain reliever. You will be advised to avoid activities that cause pain or discomfort and may be told to use a cervical collar for a brief period of time, as well as a cervical pillow while you sleep. Physical therapy, range-of-motion exercises, and strengthening exercises can help make yo...

Without knowing it, you may be encouraging neck pain by the way you perform everyday activities. How you carry yourself can invite neck pain or help keep it at bay. In general, try to keep your head balanced directly over your spine, so it is not leaning forward or cocked to one side. That's because your neck's principle job is to support your head, and your head weighs a lot - about 10 to 12 pounds. Here are some hints for achieving a healthy neck posture in common activities.  At the computer or desk When working at your computer or at a desk, keep your head balanced directly over your spine as much as possible. That means setting your chair height so both your feet can rest on the ground, and sitting with your buttocks far back in your chair, using a small pillow to support your lower back if needed. Properly adjusting the keyboard and monitor may be difficult or impossible with a laptop, notebook, or tablet computer. You can plug in a separate, full-size keyboard to help yo...

What's the healthiest way to eat? It depends on whom you ask. Many medical and nutrition experts claim to know the "perfect" way to eat for health, yet some of these dietary advocates disagree with each other in some fundamental ways. So, who's right...and who's wrong? The truth is that there is no single way to eat for good health. As a species, humans are quite similar on a genetic level, yet as individual specimens we can be amazingly diverse. That's why some people may feel great on a vegan die while others prefer a paleo diet - two dietary patterns that would appear to be polar opposites. The paleo diet includes meat but excludes grains and legumes, while the vegan diet includes grains and legumes that excludes meat and other animal products. How can both diets work? When planned well, each diet includes lots of vegetables and minimizes highly processed foods. Those are the common denominators of a healthy diet. From there, you can fill in the blanks to s...

Your diet clearly plays a role in determining your cholesterol levels, but if you're like most people, the most important factor isn't how much cholesterol-rich food you eat. Rather, it's what else you eat. Figuring this out has been a learning process.  Initially, the news that cholesterol in the bloodstream was linked to heart disease prompted an all-out war on cholesterol in food. From the 1960s on, people were advised to stay away from foods rich in cholesterol, like eggs, dairy foods, and some types of seafood. But today, the science suggests that, for most people, dietary cholesterol (the cholesterol in foods) has only a modest effect on the amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream. In fact, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans eliminated an earlier recommendation to limit dietary cholesterol to 300 milligrams (mg) per day - although they still suggest caution on overall intake. Notably, the guidelines did not change the recommendation on saturated fat, whic...

Are you concerned about your alcohol intake? Maybe you feel that you're drinking too much or too often. Perhaps it's a habit you'd like to better control.  It's always wise to check with your doctor - she should be able to help you decide whether it is best for you to cut back or to abstain. People who are dependent on alcohol, or have other medical or mental health problems, should stop drinking completely.  But many people may benefit simply by cutting back. If your doctor suggests that you curb your drinking, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) suggests that the following steps may be helpful: 1. Put it in writing. Making a list of the reasons to curtail your drinking -- such as feeling healthier, sleeping better, or improving your relationships - can motivate you.  2. Set a drinking goal. Set a limit on how much you will drink. You should keep your drinking below the recommended guidelines: no more than one standard drink per day for women...