It’s getting to be so bad that by Monday afternoon, you’re already tired of being at the office. You’re not even thinking as far ahead as Friday. Just getting to hump day is going to be challenge enough.

In reality, it’s not the folks you work with who are getting you down—they’re tolerable, mostly. It’s not even your boss, who, if he knew even half as much as you do, would be a shoo-in for Executive of the Year.

No, the biggest pain in your neck is actually located a bit lower. And it’s really what’s making working where you do seem a lot worse than it actually is.

Face it. It’s your aching back that’s sucking the joy out of your 9-to-5 existence and making you feel 10 years older to boot.

Sure, you’ve learned to tolerate the bad coffee, pointless meetings and lame jokes in the course of your day. But you just can’t tough it out when it comes to back pain, which can range from dull, nagging aches to those unexpected twinges that feel like you’ve been hit with a taser gun. (more…)

Ah…a good night’s sleep. We all want to get in the recommended 7-8 hours, yet according to the National Sleep Foundation, almost one-third of Americans sleep 6.5 hours or less each night. So, not only are we walking around in a bad mood, eyes half open, giant cup of Joe in hand, but now research shows that we are actually putting our heart at risk!

Research by Dr. Alexandros Vgontzas, professor of psychiatry at The Pennsylvania State University in Hershey reveals that even modest sleep deprivation may be associated with low-grade inflammation, which can lead to a number of cardiovascular problems.

Vgontzas and his team of researchers deprived 25 men and women just two hours of sleep per night over a six-week period. They measured blood levels for immune-system molecules called cytokines, which are normally secreted during inflammation and infection. Both men and women in the study had increased concentrations of cytokines, which confirms lack of sleep may stimulate an increase in chronic inflammation. (more…)

When I say “Inflammation,” thoughts of painful joints, muscles, swelling and loss of mobility probably comes to mind. But did you know that recent research shows that chronic inflammation in your body can lead to serious disease such as diabetes, heart disease, some cancers and Alzheimer’s disease, to name just a few?

The amount of inflammation in our body varies and is dependent on may circumstances like activity level, amount of sleep or stress in our lives and even the foods we eat. Now what you have to realize is that these factors are all accumulative and as the levels increase, the risk for disease increases.

Now, early in life these levels can be so low that you would not even know that you have any inflammation in your body and that is because our bodies do a fair job at controlling the inflammation at least for a while. Then, one day you wake up and you are in your 40s and something is just not right. The fear sets in and you think to yourself what did I do, what did I do wrong or what can I do right now to help myself. (more…)