Breastfeeding is a wonderful, healthy, beautiful thing...but don't ever let anyone tell you it's easy. When I had my first baby, even though I had several years of medical training behind me, I was shocked to discover that breastfeeding didn't come perfectly naturally. I actually had to work at it. I had to think about it. A lot. I had to read, experiment, and eventually see a lactation consultant who helped me figure the whole thing out.
I’m a huge fan of yoga. I routinely prescribe it, for everything from back pain to insomnia. My love for yoga is personal, but it’s also professional. And the best part? It’s backed up by a whole lot of research.
Here are some of the ways yoga can make you healthier and happier:
1. Yoga can help treat depression.
There are many reasons yoga is a wonderful adjunctive or alternative therapy for depression. It’s stress-relieving, promotes mindfulness, and is a good form of exercise—strategies known to improve depression.
Does your kid wet the bed? If you’re like most parents, you've chalked it up to a normal phase your child will eventually outgrow. And you're probably right. But how do you know if it’s something more than that. How do you know if it's something to be worried about?
Motherhood and fatigue tend to go hand in hand. Is there a mom out there who doesn’t feel tired most of the time?
Well, I’m here to help.
First, a chronic feeling of fatigue can be due to an underlying medical issue, like anemia and thyroid imbalance. If you feel constantly tired, you should talk to your doctor and get assessed for the common culprits.
Everyone has fluctuations in mood and feels down in the dumps sometimes—it’s a normal part of the range of human emotion. But how do you know if what you’re experiencing is actually a clinical depression?
Here’s a simplified version of the PHQ-9, which is called the Patient Health Questionnaire. It’s one of the ways we screen for depression.
Over the last two weeks, have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
I diagnosed two patients last week with pertussis, otherwise known as "whooping cough." No, I didn't go through a time machine, and I wasn’t doing a skit. Both patients had previously been in excellent health, and they were young—university students, in fact.
We've been experiencing a resurgence of pertussis on Vancouver Island, where I live and work, and it’s not a good thing. Unfortunately, it’s part of a trend we’ve been seeing recently: the reappearance of old-world diseases that we used to have under some measure of control.
In the quest for better health, we have a powerful new ally on our side: digital technology. There have been some truly exciting innovations in recent years, and they're being woven into our daily lives as we speak. It's something of a revolution, and I must say: it’s time.
The best part? Digital technology can empower you to improve your own health, and the health of your family.
The stomach flu (otherwise known as viral gastroenteritis) recently ripped its way through my household, which was great fun. I’ve seen a lot of it in my practice lately, too. A question I’m commonly asked by parents whose kids have the stomach flu, is: what can I give my kid to eat?
Here’s my answer (and this applies for both kids and grownups):
I get it. You’d love to be healthier...but who has the time? Well, here's some good news: you don't need a ton of time to make positive changes in your lifestyle.
Below are ten quick and easy ways to take your health to the next level.
Beyond painkillers, what else can you do when you have a headache? And what about prevention—are there ways to stop headaches from happening in the first place?
In this two minute video, I discuss some of the natural things you can do to treat and manage headaches, plus common headache triggers and how to keep a headache diary.
Dylan Wilson, a 20-year-old young man who lived in London, Ontario, died of the flu on Jan 17, 2014. His devastated mother appeared at a press conference shortly afterward and, in an attempt to find meaning in such an unthinkable tragedy, made a plea for people to get their flu shot. Dian Wilson hopes her son’s death will save someone else’s life.
When it comes to getting healthy, technology can be a wonderful and powerful thing. And that power is more accessible than ever, in the form of free and inexpensive apps. There are tons of excellent health-related apps available; today I’m going to look at four of them.
Setting monster goals at the beginning of the New Year is a classic setup for failure. Everyone starts with the best intentions, but when faced with a laundry list of resolutions, overwhelming feelings set in around the second week of January. Before winter is up, your resolutions are a distant memory. Why bother, right?
Well, before you scrap the whole plan, consider this idea instead: set a year's worth of resolutions up front, but don't attempt them all at the same time.
It's the middle of the night, you're awakened with the first telltale signs of a sore throat. You sneeze. And immediately experience a sinking feeling: you're getting a cold. And you know what it means. It'll only be a matter of time before everyone in your family goes down for the count, too.
It’s something you might not want to think about, because—let's face it—it's probably your worst nightmare: what if your child comes into contact with his or her allergy trigger and starts to have a severe allergic reaction? It’s the worst-case scenario if you have a kid with a severe allergy, and it’s natural to want to avoid the very thought. But, of course, you need to do the exact opposite. You need to give it detailed thought, and you need to know EXACTLY what to do if such a situation were to arise.
It’s no secret the holidays are a wee bit busy and stressful. And one of the first things to go, when you’re busy and stressed, is your sleep. It’s ironic that, at the time of year when our nights are the longest, sleep should be so hard to achieve. It’s also ironic that one of the best ways to manage all that holiday stress is to getting good quality sleep.
Last week a Calgary mother was arrested for causing the death of her 7-year-old boy. She had refused to take him to see a doctor when he was sick, and after he had been ill and feverish in bed for 10 days he finally began suffering seizures. An ambulance was called and he was pronounced dead due to cardiac arrest. The autopsy confirmed that he had died because of an untreated Strep infection.
