Month: February 2023

In honor of recognizing a positive mental attitude this month, please take a moment to consider how it helps your body in many ways to be more of a positive thinker. Here are a few detailed by the Mayo Clinic:

• increased life span
• decreased depression
• better cardiovascular health and decreased risk of cardiac disease
• reduced risk of death from cancer, respiratory conditions and infections
• greater resistance to illness
• better psychological and physical well-being.

Also listed are identifiers of negative thinking. Do you see yourself here?

• filtering out the negative more often than the positive
• self-blame
• anticipating the worst/making a big deal of small issues
• polarizing that categorizes problems as either good or bad.
• blaming someone else when something doesn’t go well.

The Mayo Clinic offers ways to reframing any negative thinking that you might do. For example, if you say to yourself that there is no way something will work, say instead that you will try to make it work. Find many other helpful ideas here:

Positive thinking: Reduce stress by eliminating negative self-talk – Mayo Clinic

We love a reason to celebrate at Paragon and today we celebrate Amy! If you are in the clinic, please wish her a happy birthday month!

Whether you have older muscles that take a while to warm up every morning, or have aches from overexertion, we have some tips from Harvard Health to help you get out of bed more easily. Have you considered stretching before you get out of bed? Paragon Orthopedic Center has often reminded you that you have to warm up before stretching, giving you the cold taffy analogy, but here is an example where you don’t have to worry about a warmup. Because you’ve been under the covers, your muscles are already warm. Your only prep work is to flex your joints before you stretch. (Hint: remove the blankets.) Check out this article with six stretches you can do before rising with helpful photos to make sure you have the right body positions. Stretching is a great way to prevent injuries, possibly prevent falls, and a limber body is a healthier body!

Try these stretches before you get out of bed – Harvard Health

The goal of the Paragon Orthopedic Center blog is to inform you, and typically we choose the subject of physical health, specifically bone health, since that’s our specialty. However, since the theme of the week everywhere you look is love, today we focus on that emotion central to this Valentine’s Day week and how it is good for you, both physically and mentally. Time magazine provides five succinct points:

• Love makes you happy.
• Love reduces your stress level.
• Love eases anxiety.
• Love encourages people to take better care of themselves.
• Love helps you live longer.

For more on these five points and the studies that prove them, read here:
5 Ways Love Is Good for Your Mental and Physical Health | Time

You never know when you might be the only one who can save a person who is having a heart attack. It could be a friend, a grandparent, a spouse, or a child, and we want to empower you with the knowledge to be able to help your loved ones. Statistically, heart attacks happen often at home and the quicker blood is circulated, the less tissue death or damage that occurs.

FOR UNTRAINED BYSTANDERS
–ALWAYS call 9-1-1 first. They will help you and summon assistance.
-Give CPR. Push down hard and fast in the center of the chest at a rate of 100 to 120 pushes a minute. Let the chest come back up to its normal position after each push. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends timing your pushes to the beat of the song “Stayin’ Alive.” This method of CPR is called “hands-only” and does not involve breathing into the person’s mouth.

The acronym for trained responders is now CAB: Compressions, Airway, Breathing. Studies found that the time to give breaths was better spent promptly starting compressions for increased survival rates.

Read more here:
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR): First aid – Mayo Clinic

Are you aware of your heart health risks? Heart health is something to take seriously, and Paragon Orthopedic Center is making it easy for you. Check out this website with information on the following:

• Control your blood pressure
• Move more
• Stress less
• Eat healthy
• Manage cholesterol
• Manage blood sugar
• Quit smoking

Live to the Beat is an engaging website with very helpful information presented in a motivating format. Show yourself some love and take a few moments:

Live to the Beat | Million Hearts

Are you starting to think about ways to show your love this Valentine’s Day? Here we present some pretty creative ideas, and these ideas will fit in perfectly with any resolutions that aim for a healthier lifestyle in 2023. If you always aim for healthy choices, this will be a must read for you too. Get your creative juices flowing for the loved ones in your life. Don’t forget that hugs can lower stress hormones!
The American Heart Association’s ideas include:
-a dance class
-a couple’s cooking class (look online!)
-consider a small box of dark chocolates instead of the box that won’t fit in the shopping basket.
Get more inspiration here:
Ideas for a safe, healthy Valentine’s Day everyone can love | American Heart Association