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You know that enacting all those self-care tips will help you feel better, but sometimes it’s so hard to do what you need to. We asked our readers and followers “What do you know you SHOULD do for your arthritis, but it’s just so hard?” Here are their answers.
Continue reading You Said It: It’s Hard to Always Do What You Should →
When you need a pick-me-up, help relaxing after a hard day or even a distraction from pain while working on a project, turn on some music.
Music activates your limbic system, the “emotional brain,” which controls emotions, memories and the senses. Music triggers the release of chemicals that can influence your sleep cycles, moods and other factors that contribute to a range of physical and emotional benefits.
Continue reading Use Music to Get You Through Pain →
Yes, you can reap all the benefits from your inflammation-fighting fish oil supplements without the fishy taste.
Don’t let your fish oil supplements linger on a kitchen shelf because it causes fishy burps. Follow these five tips to minimize this unpleasant problem and still get your helping of omega-3 essential fatty acids:
Continue reading Stop the Fish Oil Aftertaste →
Researchers agree – meditation can help with a host of health problems. “Relaxing and quieting your mind by focusing on your breathing can reduce stress – even the stress that comes with arthritis flares,” says David E. Yocum, MD, director of the Arizona Arthritis Center in Tucson. His studies, as well as others, found that patients who meditated responded to stress with lower heart rates and improved immune function; and that meditation, in combination with traditional medicines, appears to help patients with chronic pain. Studies have shown that meditation inhibits or relieves pain perception. And in a study published in the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s scientific journal in April 2015, 43 patients who used a mindfulness meditation program as part of their pain management experienced lower general anxiety and depression, better mental quality of life (psychological well-being), a greater feeling of control of the pain, and higher pain acceptance.
Continue reading Easy Meditation Options for Pain →
Meditation includes many different practices of focused thinking and relaxation and studies show it can help people with arthritis. No matter what technique you choose, the goal is to improve coping strategies for pain and reduce symptoms like stress and anxiety. Maybe you’ve even tried it – but two minutes felt like two hours and after each 20-minute session, the result was the same: You created a mental to-do list and had a sore behind. You’re not alone.
“We are so used to multitasking that we find it difficult to sit down and turn off our thoughts,” explains Scott Zashin, MD, a rheumatologist and clinical assistant professor of internal medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. “Meditation is not a quick fix; it takes time.”
Continue reading Meditation for Arthritis Pain? A Beginner’s Guide →
You’ve probably heard of omega-3 fatty acids, especially if you have an inflammatory type of arthritis. They help reduce inflammation throughout the body, and some studies have shown benefits for heart health, brain function and diabetes.
There are two major types of omega-3 fatty acids in our diets. One type is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and the other type is eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The body partially converts ALA to EPA and DHA.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), fish oil (EPA and DHA) is the most commonly used dietary supplement in the United States. A study published in the Annals of Rheumatic Disease in 2013, found that when a high-dose fish oil supplement is added to so-called triple therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (methotrexate, sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine), patients achieved better outcomes: they were far less likely to “fail” treatment and twice as likely to reach remission than those who did not take a supplement.
Continue reading The Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Arthritis →