(StatePoint)

Whether you have a desk job or otherwise sedentary lifestyle, prolonged periods of sitting may be unavoidable for you. Chances are you are sitting as you read this article. New research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and other journals shows that sitting for long stretches can be detrimental to your health, contributing to obesity,   cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic kidney disease. “The best defense -- the only defense -- is to move more,” says Dr. Keith Overland, president of the American Chiropractic Association.

Walk

The simple act of walking can help you get in shape and feel great. It’s easy, burns calories, reduces the risk of heart disease, tones muscles and increases cardiovascular endurance. Walking as little as 12 minutes a day can have a significant positive effect. To get the most from your walk, move your arms freely in coordination with the opposite leg, walk “with purpose” to maximize your cardiovascular workout, don’t stoop your head or look down as you walk and don’t carry weights, as they’re better used as a separate part of your exercise regimen.

Alleviate Pain

Aches and pains prevent many people from even taking that first step toward better health.  Chiropractic physicians -- experts in treating muscles and joints -- offer not only a drug-free approach to alleviating pain through spinal adjustments and manipulation, they also promote overall health and wellness through nutritional counseling, rehabilitation and exercise and lifestyle recommendations. Search for a chiropractor in your area by using “Find a Doc,” the American Chiropractic Association’s online member database, www.acatoday.org/ FindaDoc.

Sit Correctly

“When you do sit, make sure to do it correctly so you don’t ruin your posture or strain your muscles, leading to pain that could inhibit you from getting the activity you need,” suggests Dr. Overland. To prevent problems, keep your feet on the floor or a footrest and don't cross your legs. Your knees should be at or below the level of your hips. Adjust the backrest of your chair to support your low- and mid-back or use a back support, and avoid sitting in the same position for long periods of time. Include frequent micro-breaks into your sitting time, stretching your neck, arms, wrists, back, and legs. Simple stretches include neck rotations, fist clenches, arm dangles, and shoulder shrugs. Most of all, don’t sit for too long. Stand up and stretch your legs with a short walk about every 20 to 30 minutes. Avoid working through lunch.

Maintain Good Posture

Poor posture not only consumes more energy but also can lead to excessive strain on your postural muscles and may even cause them to weaken when held in certain positions for long periods of time. The postural muscles are prone to injury and back pain, but maintaining good posture, sitting properly and moving regularly can help you stay pain-free. You can learn more healthy tips at www.ChiroHealthy.com. While you may not be able to quit your desk job, you can prevail over inactivity and move yourself closer to better health.

Tips for an Easy 5-Step Rehab

Between blow-drying, teasing, flat-ironing, highlighting and lowlighting— there are many ways to change what Mother Nature gave us. But whether you’re regularly straightening curls, lightening darker hair or vice/versa, there may be a price to pay for rebelling. But most women don’t think twice about the hair habits they’ve had for years and years, says longtime hair-care advocate and health scientist Audrey Davis-Sivasothy. “Lackluster, frazzled, overworked hair—that’s the price we pay for handling our hair like a pair of jeans. Hair is a fragile fiber that needs to be handled more like a silk blouse,” says Davis-Sivasothy, author of “Hair Care Rehab,” (www.haircarerehab.com). “Oftentimes, the style we feel the most comfortable with reinforces our bad habits. It’s a problem with all the earmarks of an addiction.”

Substances of choice include:

• Toxic chemicals (perms, relaxers & colors)

• Hair OCD (excessive combing, brushing & heat use)

• Environmental lifestyle (too much exposure to sun, surf, bad air and water)

• Nutritional/dietary (fad diets, smoking, low water consumption) As with a drug addiction, once you’ve kicked your habit, you’ll liberate your bad hair, unlocking new dimensions of hair potential, says Davis-Sivasothy, who has also authored the popular “The Science of Black Hair” (www.blackhairscience.com). 

She offers a five-step rehab for damaged hair:

1. Chelating your hair: Products containing oils, conditioners, serums and pomades (or minerals), which make you feel better in the short term, can build up and actually prevent your hair’s ability to hydrate. That’s why the first step in detoxing hair is the use of chelating shampoo, which is typically clear and lifts stubborn buildup from products and hard water. While many chelating shampoos are sulfate-based, there are more sulfate-free products entering the market to accommodate sensitive scalps and hair. Clarifying shampoos are a good substitute when chelating shampoos cannot be found. Moisturizing shampoo should be used for general use after detoxing is complete.

2. Deep conditioning your hair: After chelating, deep condition for 10 to 15 minutes. This should be done every seven to 10 days using moisturizing conditioners such as instant and cream-rinse, deep conditioners, protein treatments or leave-in conditioners. To go the extra mile, consider an apple cider vinegar rinse to close the cuticle and enhance your hair’s shine.

3. Moisturizing your hair: This step adds a layer of leave-on protection. You can use either leave-in conditioner or a dedicated moisturizing product, or both. For thick, dry or curly hair, this step hydrates and adds “slip.” For fine or oily hair, these products should detangle strands while encouraging volume. 

4. Sealing your hair: This is the last major step in your hair intervention. Sealing with an oil or butter product locks in moisture and solidifies the gains of rehab. It smoothes out the cuticle and keeps hair moisturized for a longer period. Always use sealant on slightly dampened or misted hair, or pair the product with a water-based moisturizer to maximize the benefits. If you have naturally oily hair, you can skip this step.

5. Styling your hair protectively: Imagine wearing a favorite sweater every day; washing, drying and ironing it several times a week – it would look pretty worn out after a few years! This is exactly what happens to hair that is bleached, colored, blown dry with artificial heat, ironed, weaved and on and on. Don’t do this anymore! There are several measures you can take to preserve the health of your hair, including wearing it up more often, cleansing it cautiously, detangling strands with a large-tooth comb, protectively using blow-dryer heat, reducing chemical use and not coloring your hair more than three shades lighter or darker than your natural color. In general, be gentle. Do not pull to hard or rapidly when styling it, too; be slow and steady.

HOUSTON

The latest genomic analysis of pancreatic tumors identified two new pathways involved in the disease, information that could be capitalized on to develop new and earlier diagnostic tests for the disease, said a Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) physician-scientist who was part of the local team that took part in the international effort. A report appears online in the journal Nature (www.nature.com). “We have enormously expanded our knowledge of the genes involved in pancreatic cancer,” said Dr. William Fisher, professor of surgery (http://www.bcm.edu/pancreascenter/index.cfm?pmid=10143) and director of the Elkins Pancreas Center (http://www.bcm.edu/pancreascenter/) at BCM. “This study ushers in a whole new era of taking care of patients with pancreatic cancer. We will look back on this as a turning point in understanding and treating this disease.” The study follows a five-year collaboration between the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery (http://www.bcm.edu/surgery/) and the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center (http://www.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu/), said Fisher. That collaboration began with Dr. Charles Brunicardi, former chair of the department. New information is much welcome in the field of pancreatic cancer, which is the fourth leading cause of cancer death with an overall five-year survival rate of less than 6 percent. The figures have not changed substantially in the past 50 years. The study is the first to report findings from primary tumors in the disease. Previously only cell lines or tumors transplanted into mice had been used because the tumors are so small. “Therefore it required new techniques to sensitively identify mutations that were important to the development of cancer,” said Dr. David Wheeler (www.hgsc.bcm.edu/content/faculty), associate professor in the BCM Human Genome Sequencing Center who oversees the center’s cancer projects. Wheeler and Fisher are also members of the NCI-designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM. (www.bcm.edu/cancercenter). The Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center was one of three sequencing centers worldwide that analyzed the genomes of pancreatic tumors and normal tissues taken from 142 patients with the disease. The BCM center along with the Australian Pancreatic Center Genome Initiative and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research Pancreatic Cancer Genome Study carried out detailed studies on 99 of the tumors, identifying 1982 mutations that resulted in a change to a protein and 1,628 significant copy number variations events in which the structure of the chromosomes themselves are changed, either deleting or duplicating genetic information. The multi-institution, international consortium of researchers discovered mutations in genes involved in chromatin modification (changes that affect the way DNA is packaged inside the cell) and axon guidance (the process by which the axon – a long threadlike project that carries impulses away from the neuron – is guided to grow to its proper target). “This is a category of genes not previously linked to pancreatic cancer,” said Fisher. “We are poised to jump on this gene list and do some exciting things.” Wheeler pointed out that large multi-centered studies using well- annotated groups of patients with cancer are pivotal to studies such as this, which promise to guide the way toward developing new treatment strategies. Developing such banks of data is part of the goal of the Texas Cancer Research Biobank, said Dr. Richard Gibbs, director of the BCM Human Genome Sequencing Center and a co-author of the report. BCM serves as the coordinating center for the Texas Cancer Research Biobank, which bridges the gap between physicians and researchers. The Biobank is funded in part through the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute of Texas.