Health Podcast with Connie Sellecca: Save Your Feet From Diabetes; Sleep to Grow Muscles; Play Music to Get Smarter

In this episode we feature:

An interview with foot and ankle surgeon, Dr. Brad Schaefer.

The benefits of learning a musical instrument.

How using Emojis can make you happier.

How to protect your feet from the symptoms of diabetes.

How too much screen time can change your perception of time.

And more ways you can improve your health today!

For more information, and to sign up for our private coaching, visit tesh.com

Our Hosts:
John Tesh: Instagram: @johntesh_ifyl facebook.com/JohnTesh
Gib Gerard: Instagram: @GibGerard facebook.com/GibGerard X: @GibGerard

Transcript

Unknown: 0:07

Music, hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Gib Gerard. We have for you another intelligence for your health with Connie Celica. Edition of the podcast today on the show, we've got an interview with foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer, so all kinds of health information that you can use today to make yourself a whole lot healthier, plus that interview with foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer here, without further ado, intelligence for your health with Connie selika, if you've ever thought about picking up a guitar, playing piano or learning any musical instrument, here's a good reason to start. It makes you smarter. According to the journal frontiers in neuroscience, people who have musical training have better executive function, that's the ability to focus despite distractions and ignore irrelevant information. They also have better decision making skills. And even if you don't start playing until you're an adult, you'll still have better brain health. In fact, learning an instrument improves thinking ability in adults more so than playing brain games or doing puzzles. The next time you get a text message crammed full of happy smiley face emojis, beware the person sending that message may actually be feeling quite blue. That's according to a study in the journal frontiers in psychology. It found that a lot of people admit they use more positive emojis on days when they feel more negative feelings and want to hide them. Researchers say that's surprising, since facial emojis were designed to reflect our real emotions. But as we've learned from social media, what we see on a screen doesn't always reflect reality, and the truth is, most of us embellish our life online in some way. Researchers call it the display rule, and this new study found that we do that with text messages too, and usually, the worse we feel, the more we'll go over the top with positive emojis coming up. We'll talk to foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer, owner of Central Park soul in New York City. He'll explain why Achilles tendon tears are among the most common injuries he treats, especially around this time of year, but first, your bad dreams may be down to the position you sleep in. For a study in the journal sleep and hypnosis, adults filled out a popular sleep questionnaire called the Pittsburg sleep quality index. They noted which side they slept on and whether their dreams were positive or negative. The result, right side sleepers experienced more positive dreams and fewer nightmares than left side sleepers. Right siders also reported more dreams with feelings of safety or relief. That may be because right side sleeping reduces nervous system activity, which lowers heart rate and blood pressure making people feel calmer. Here are a few things that are healthy but people think are not starting with frozen vegetables. They're typically flash frozen right after they're picked, which packs in a lot more vitamins and minerals than having those vegetables sitting on a truck for days, crying is healthy, too, According to psychologist Dr Natalie Dillo from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, crying can actually improve our mental health, making us more resilient in stressful times, because crying stimulates a branch of the nervous system that promotes relaxation and recovery. Another thing that's healthy and people think is not potatoes. Registered Dietitian Michelle Cook says baked potatoes contain tons of potassium, which helps remove excess sodium from your bloodstream. In fact, when our potassium levels go up, our sodium level automatically goes down. Finally, silence is healthy. University of Connecticut researchers say 12 minutes of silence a day can boost the production of GABA by 30% that's a calming neurotransmitter. GABA helps us feel content, relaxed and focused. Okay, listen to this. If you walk for exercise and want to increase your pace, walk and chew gum at the same time. According to the society of neuroscience, we tend to chew gum faster than we walk. We chew about 75 times per minute, but walk only 60 steps per minute. But our brains aren't great at processing two speeds at once, so you'll subconsciously start to walk faster at the pace of your chewing. In a study at Old Dominion University, both younger and older participants had the same results. They walked faster. Her to keep pace with their chewing rate. So if you want to walk more quickly, chew a piece of gum today, our guest is Dr Brad Schaefer. He's a board certified foot and ankle surgeon who you may know from the hit TV reality show My feet are killing me on TLC. I asked him, What are the most common injuries he's been treating lately. Now that the weather is getting warmer, what I'm seeing at my practice in New York City is that there's a lot of Achilles injuries and a lot of heel pain injuries, which is also called plantar fasciitis. I honestly think it's because of everyone being sedentary during COVID times and finally ramping themselves back up. I know it's been a little bit, but for some people, it takes a little longer, especially when you've been at rest for a bit so on. Everyone's running around getting back, and we're seeing a lot of those foot and ankle injuries, for sure. You said Achilles injuries are very common, and in fact, a report from the University of Michigan says a whopping 1/3 of all sports related injuries involve the Achilles. So what causes that tendon to tear? With Achilles tendon injuries, a lot of times, it's due to our weekend warriors. It's the people that are going out a little too fast and, you know, crushing it like they did when they were in peak shape. So there are a lot of patients that are jumping or sprinting, you know, when you're just going through a regular work week, really, we're just walking around, you know, throughout our office or, you know, from car to Office. So a lot of people during the weekends go out and play basketball with friends or run different things. It's the people that really try to go out too hard, too fast, is what's showing that the Achilles tendon can start to get little strains, and those strains become tears, and then they start tearing in multiple places, then they rip, and that would be an Achilles tendon rupture. So it's super important. When you're noticing the inflammation and pain, you rest a little bit, and then you get back at it. A few days later, today, we're talking to foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer, and one of the best ways to prevent foot injuries is to always wear comfortable, properly fitting shoes. So I asked Dr Schaeffer to give us a crash course on what we should be looking for whenever we buy new shoes, depending on what I'm doing, whether I'm playing basketball or if I'm playing soccer, if I'm just running or working out, there are different types of shoes for each activity, as I think a lot of people now, but you have to make sure you have room In your toe box for your toes to move around and not be so pinched up there, because if your toes become pinched, the nerves become pinched, and you felt things that are called neuromas, and they can be very painful. As far as your heel is concerned, you really just want to make sure you get a shoe that cups the heel really well. If you get a shoe that cups the heel really well, then you're usually supported properly. Arch support is every setting. I tell my patients all the time, make sure you get an appropriate insole in your shoes. Dr Scholl's is perfect for that, and then it'll really make whatever shoe you have that much better. People tend to get more cold sores in summer, because the virus can be activated by heat and sunlight. So when you feel that Telltale tingle, get a vitamin D gel capsule, prick it open with a clean pin and put a drop of the liquid on your cold sore. Dermatologist, Joshua Zeichner is from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and he says the anti inflammatory properties in vitamin D can reduce the severity of cold sores and help them heal faster. Today's medical term neuroma, it's a condition that our guest, Dr Brad Schaefer mentioned earlier, that's often the result of wearing poor fitting shoes. For example, if your shoes are too tight at the front. Dr Schaeffer says it can pinch the toes together in a way that triggers painful neuromas, and I asked him to tell us more about them. When you have ball of foot pain, which is the front of the foot, which is really every step that we take, sometimes the nerves can get pinched in between our bones, and what happens with that is the nerve forms a little ball, which is called an aroma, and it's really just the nerve needing more room to breathe, and it's an inflammatory state of the nerve. So what you need to do is make sure we're good support good shoes. Sometimes you need a cortisone injection, which is a steroid, the decrease the inflammatory response of the nerve. Once that calms down, it usually gets better, but you really have to support the feet, and that's today's medical term, neuroma coming up. We'll hear more from foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer. He'll explain why you're significantly more likely to. Have foot problems if you're among the one in four North American adults who either have or are at risk for diabetes. But first, sleeping six hours a night is not good for you. Researchers found people who slept six hours a night for two weeks functioned as poorly as those who stayed awake for two days straight, and the sleep deprived people had no idea they weren't functioning properly. They thought they were perfectly fine, but poor sleep makes us eat more, act more emotionally, worry more, drive poorly, make more mistakes at work, and makes us 400% more likely to get sick. So don't trust yourself to know whether you're sleep deprived. Trust the clock, and if you're getting only six hours, find a way to get more. There's an old fashioned game that can really help people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's it's bingo. According to the Journal of Alzheimer's disease, playing bingo every week improves the memory of people with dementia. The game itself keeps the mind in a competitive state, and the speed of the game is mentally stimulating. Bingo also stimulates areas of the brain that control attention, focus, concentration and immediate memory. It involves visual and auditory perception, and it requires accurate motor movement to place the pieces on the bingo card, even when small changes are made to the color and contrast of bingo cards. Dementia sufferers play at the same level as people without dementia. It's also a social activity, and socializing is a brain workout in itself, and for residents in care homes who don't have dementia, bingo has a protective effect. It can keep residents from developing it to begin with. Okay, listen to this. Do you get indigestion after a strenuous hike or jog? You might want to cut the length and intensity of your workout, because researchers found that prolonged vigorous exercise can impair gut function. It's called exercise induced gastrointestinal syndrome, and people who spend at least two continuous hours at 60% of their maximum intensity can have slowed digestion and nutrient absorption. It can even trigger endotoxemia, which can cause shock, hemorrhaging and kidney damage. So if you get indigestion after strenuous exercise, you might want to dial back the length and intensity of your workout and see a doctor back with more health intelligence from board certified foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer, and throughout the foot care industry, he says there's been a growing focus on providing help for the whopping one in four North American adults who either have or are at risk for diabetes. So I asked Dr Schaeffer why diabetics need to be especially careful when it comes to taking care of their feet. You know, diabetes is a big problem in our community. Being Foot and Ankle Specialists or podiatrists, what we really do is we talk to our patients a lot about this, because once that condition or disease takes over, you can essentially lose feeling in your feet. You could step on a pin or attack and not even know it. And when that happens, bacteria gets in, and then infection sets. But when that happens, you know, sometimes people lose toes feet, and I know it's horrific to hear, but you know, we need a little wake up call with that in our health, just to make sure we're eating properly and getting enough exercise. Because although diabetes is a manageable condition, it's something that affects a lot of it, because I think we just disregard it back with more health intelligence from foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer, and he was just talking about the specific issues diabetics face when it comes to foot care, which include everything from a loss of sensation in their toes to a greater risk of amputation. Dr Schaeffer says the good news is that people with diabetes can minimize their foot issues by wearing what's known as diabetic shoes. Diabetic shoes are essentially a shoe that has a little more room and accommodates your foot type, meaning somebody that has a wider foot needs a wider toe box so the toes don't rub. Because if your toes rub and you have diabetes, develop neuropathy, which is decreased sensation in the feet, or numb feet, then that rubbing every step you take will create an ulcer or blister, so the diabetic shoes are cushioned and have extra room to accommodate a person's individual foot type. When you talk about our foot type, is that something we can figure out for ourselves, or do we need to see a foot specialist to know what our exact foot type is as far. Is your foot types concerned? You know, we can do something that's just even, you know, putting a piece of paper on the floor and putting our foot in water and then stepping on the piece of paper. If your foot looks like a pancake and it flattens out, you don't see an arch. That means you have a flatter type of foot. If you see an arch, that means you should have a regular arts type, or maybe you have a high arch foot, and then you'll really just be a fate outline of a foot. You'll kind of notice it on pool decks. Also when you're walking around, when you get out of a pool, look at your feet compared to other people's feet. You'll notice if they're pancake or not. That kind of tells if you're going to need a little more arch support or less. Our support for anyone who needs to remember important material, stop cramming, because when you cram before a test, you'll remember next to nothing a week later, Tyler Harrison is a cognitive psychologist from Georgia Tech, and he says repetition is essential for memory, so try spending an hour each day studying any material like next week's sales presentation or your best man toast. Dr Harrison says memorizing something over a few days adds more layers to that memory than one long cram session. That way you'll be prepared for your big moment, but you'll also remember that information years later, more intelligence for your health from board certified foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer. If you'd like to know more about him, or some of the latest foot care treatments, check out Central Park sol.com that's soul as an S, O, L, E, and I asked Dr Schaeffer if it's true that people are more likely to develop warts on their feet in warm weather. Here's what he had to say, warts can be so so so pesky, and you do see them in warmer climates, and the reason being is because warm, moist environments is when warts love to come out. That's when the virus is like in its glory. So like sweaty socks, sweaty shoes, people that are working outside a lot, runners, if you're not checking your feet or making sure that your shoes and socks are changed regularly, that is like a perfect environment for warts to grow. Also, bacteria, bacteria and viruses. Love those warm, moist environments. Do you swim for exercise or fun? Well, if you spend more than six hours in a pool every week, you could be putting your teeth at risk because pool water that contains too much chlorine is dangerously acidic, and when highly acidic water comes into contact with tooth enamel for extended periods, you can develop so called swimmers calculus, a buildup of calcium that can turn your teeth yellow or even Brown. Excess chlorine can also leave your teeth brittle and sensitive. So if you swim frequently, brush your teeth as soon as you climb out of the pool. Also consider using a fluoride rinse to help strengthen your teeth. And if your teeth still look a bit dingy, get your teeth cleaned more often. Here's an email I received at Connie at intelligence for your health.com It comes from Dana Latham, who writes, My dog has been getting bad allergies lately. What can I do to help him? Dana, start by wiping down your dog when he comes in from a walk or the yard, just like pollen and allergens stick to human hair and clothing, they stick to your dog's fur and paws. That means when your dog lies on his bed, he's transferring all those allergens to the place he sleeps, making his symptoms worse. Also bathe him once a week using a hypoallergenic shampoo. Then try adding some omega three fatty acids to his diet. That's because omega threes reduce inflammation and keep allergy symptoms in check. One more tip for reducing your dog's allergies. Get more vitamin D into their diet. It cuts the risk of infection from the scratching. But don't give them your human supplements, especially for vitamin D, which can be toxic to dogs in large doses, ask your vet for a recommendation about which products to buy the right supplement dose should be based on your dog's size and weight, and they now make allergy medications just for animals. For instance, there's a version of Claritin that's made specifically for dogs, and you can get it over the counter, just make sure to check with your vet first. Thank you for your email. Dana, I hope this helps. Okay, listen to this. If you feel like time is rushing by. It may be down to too much screen time, according to James Cook University in Australia, our gadgets require our brain to process things faster, and that increased cognitive speed makes us feel more time pressure. That's why you get irritated when a video won't. Load in two seconds. In fact, when people are working on a computer or tablet, they feel like an hour passes 10 minutes faster than it actually does. So to get in sync with the natural pace of time, experts say, just get away from your screens and do something else for a while. Go for a walk, fold laundry, climb some stairs, anything, you'll reset your perception of time. What separates healthy sleepers who can drift off to sleep within minutes from the estimated one in three people who regularly struggle with insomnia? New research shows it really is down to what you think about when you climb into bed. That's according to Dr Hayley meeklem, a sleep psychologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia. She surveyed people and simply asked, What do you think about when you're trying to fall asleep? And the results may not surprise you. Dr meeklem found that good sleepers almost always have visual dream like thoughts where they picture specific people and objects in their mind, but Poor Sleepers Tend to be less visual, meaning they get bogged down with planning problem solving or rehashing negative conversations they have that day. But any amount of stress or negativity at night will increase your cortisol and activate your brain enough to keep you awake. The fix. Dr meeklem says, Before you climb in bed, choose a scenario that you want to think about that's as positive and visual as possible. That's a technique known as cognitive refocusing, and based on this new study, it works more intelligence for your health from foot and ankle surgeon, Dr Brad Schaefer and one of the latest treatments for foot injuries is known as PRP, or platelet rich plasma therapy. It's proven to speed up the healing of injured tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints in the feet. Platelet rich plasma therapy has been used to treat everything from arthritis in dogs to male pattern baldness to muscle injuries in athletes. So I asked Dr Schaeffer to tell us more about what PRP therapy involves when it comes to our feet. So PRP is a regenerative medicine technique that is used throughout the country and the world, essentially. But PRP, which is amazing, is, it's your blood, you know, it's no one else's. It's nothing from anyone. You take your blood, you spit it in a centrifuge, and you re inject it. What happens there is, you're really taking the healing factors out of your blood, because at the end of the day, our blood heals everything. You know, if you have an injury, your blood goes to the area and it repairs it well, this takes the blood out of your body and spins out those amazing factors in our blood that heal things, and then we re inject that directly into the area of concern, whether that be a tendon strain or Achilles tendon issue or like plantar fasciitis, and that's heel pain, so you can inject it for heel pain. Also, I've also injected a lot of areas where people have arthritis, whether that be in the ankle or the big toe joint. These are all areas of concern for people. And regenerative medicine is the future, and I love it. I think it's fantastic. That's it for our show today, our special intelligence for your health with Connie Selig, edition of the podcast, I'm Gib Gerard. Don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe on Apple podcast. Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. It helps us out a lot. And also, you can reach out to us on social media. All of our links are listed down in the show notes, we try to respond to every DM, every mention of the show, because ultimately, we do the show for you guys. So thank you so much for listening. You.