Author: Wendy Sill

For years, conventional research emphasized that bacteria is bad for humans, and must be flushed out completely. Companies responded to this need for an “ultra clean” persona, and soon antibacterial products proliferated into supermarket shelves and consumer homes. However, microbiological research in recent years has squashed old beliefs that all bacteria is bad. Studies now show that many antibacterial chemicals are far more hazardous than the bacteria they were designed to kill. One example is triclosan, a chemical originally manufactured in soaps, now banned by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

The differentiation between various bacterial strains has identified “good” bacteria from the “bad” bacteria, leading to the rise of probiotics. According to statistics compiled by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH),

• More than 3.9 million adults in the United States use probiotics. That’s 1.6% of the general adult population.
• The use of probiotics by adults in the United States was four times higher in 2012 than in 2007.
• Around 294,000 children in the United States use probiotics. That’s 0.5% of the general child population.
• In 2012, probiotics was among the top three natural products used by children.

Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that aid the health and robust functioning of the digestive system. They fight against bloating, stomach cramps and other digestion issues, by blocking pathogens and maintaining the microbiome integrity of the gut. While the positives of ingesting probiotics in food and supplement form have been extensively extrapolated, their role in skincare is the new big trend in skincare.

The natural bacterial ecosystem of the skin is intrinsically protective and key to dermal health. But this ecosystem is often compromised by broad range skincare products that emphasize “maximum cleanliness”, the result being skin that is dull, dry and stressed. As noted by Dr. Matthew Zirwas, Director of the Ohio Contact Dermatitis Center, there has been a rise in skin irritation problems from yeast overgrowth, a sign that good skin microbes are missing.

“Certain common ingredients in personal care products, like the zinc pyrithione found in dandruff shampoos, and some alcohols found in products like toners, can also kill off good bacteria.”

When applied topically, probiotics can influence the skin microflora positively. The live bacterial culture produces acidic compounds like lactic acid through fermentation, which reduces the pH of the skin. This acidification process dissuades most pathogens from growing, favoring instead the flourishing of “good” bacteria. Probiotics also produce powerful antimicrobials like bacteriocidins, organic acids and hydrogen peroxide that prevent pathogen adhesion.

Although probiotics have considerable skin benefits, live cultures are usually not incorporated into cosmetics. Prebiotics on the other hand, are easily infused into skincare products and are a viable alternative to live bacteria. Prebiotics are non- digestible carbohydrates from plant sources that essentially serve as food for “good” bacteria while staving off the “bad” bacteria.

Another popular option for cosmetic formulations are bacterial cell lysates. Lysates consist of cell walls, dead bacteria and bacterial metabolites.

Together with prebiotics and bacterial cell lysates, probiotic skincare offers many  benefits:

Sensitive Skin

Sensitive skin is slow to repair itself after suffering trauma, but topical probiotics boost the healing process by strengthening the skin’s defense walls. One example is the bacterium Streptococcus thermophiles, which has high levels of sphingomyelinase. A cream containing the lysate of S. thermophiles was found to significantly increase stratum cormeum ceramide levels as well as skin hydration in women after two weeks of application.

Skin Youth

Pollution in cities and UV rays lead to greater skin exposure to free radicals. This accelerates skin ageing and the appearance of wrinkles. Probiotics step in to soothe the immune system’s natural triggers to free radicals, thus reducing the damage to collagen, elastin and other healthy cells.

Eczema

Many studies have shown the relationship between bacteria in the gut and skin conditions. In the United States, 31.6 million people have some form of eczema. Eczema is characterized by red, itchy rashes on the skin. While there is no cure for the condition, some probiotic strains have demonstrated holistic properties by fighting inflammation and immune dysfunction. In one study from Finland, pregnant women with strong family histories of itchy skin problems, took probiotic supplements containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for two to four weeks prior to giving birth. After delivery, the women continued to take the supplements while breastfeeding, or added the bacteria to infant formula for at least six months. Researchers found that probiotics reduced the incidence of eczema in the babies until at least age 2, and even longer.

Rosacea

When the immune system categorizes living microorganisms on the skin as foreign, it launches an attack to counter this potential threat. This leads to inflammation, redness and bumps on the skin. Probiotics applied topically over the skin surface, prevent skin cells from triggering an immune response. This is known as bacterial interference, as probiotics interfere with the ability of “bad bacteria” to aggravate the immune system.

Acne- Prone Skin

Topical products containing probiotics and their lysates are effective in treating acne, and have been suggested as an alternative to topical antibiotics. A 2012 clinical study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science found that a solution containing 5% lactobacillus, a bacterial strain commonly found in yogurt, significantly reduced active skin lesions in participants. The probiotics applied to the skin form a protective barrier that resists harmful bacteria from exacerbating immune responses and skin inflammation.

The global probiotics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.3%, and estimated to reach $60.5 billion by 2022. Consumer demand is driven by increasing health concerns and the effectiveness of “good” bacteria in improving gut and skin related disorders. With increased disposable income and the far-reaching power of social media, consumers are able to adopt styles and products from anywhere in the world. This makes probiotic skincare one of the hottest trends for 2017.

Simply hearing the word “procrastination” can evoke groans and sighs from almost any audience. Ironically enough, if you’re vulnerable to this habit, you might rather put off talking about how to stop putting off things.

However, you probably also know there is almost always a price to be paid for procrastination. Though it may be painful to think about today, you’ll be glad you did tomorrow. That’s why you should begin dealing with the issue of procrastination now.

Below is more about this frustrating problem and a few suggestions to help you banish procrastination forever.

What’s Wrong With Procrastination

Procrastination is almost universally considered a bad practice, though identifying why can be a bit tricky in some instances. After all, some people seem to thrive from the adrenaline rush they get by being pushed into “do or die” situations.

However, the reality is that procrastination is emotionally and mentally unhealthy. Here are just a few reasons why procrastination is definitely bad for you:

• Relationship with substance abuse – Evidence indicates that individuals who procrastinate may be prone to abusing alcohol and other substances. This may be coincidental with procrastination, since anxiety and depression are also linked to procrastination, but the reality is that procrastinators often harm themselves with their behaviors.
• Increased financial costs – Procrastination can needlessly cost its practitioners a lot of money. From missing deadlines with financial penalties attached, such as filing taxes, to spending more money by buying in a “crisis” frame of mind, putting things off drains financial resources.
• Greater susceptibility to illness – Procrastinators are often more vulnerable to sickness, as the stress and pressure that is created by procrastinating can weaken your immune system.
• Interference with relationships – Procrastination doesn’t only hurt those the procrastinator, it can also interfere with other people’s lives and activities. This leads to strained and tense relationships with coworkers, family members and other significant persons in the lives of procrastinators.

Why People Procrastinate

There is a common belief that procrastination is just a reflection of laziness among those who practice it. However, the reality is that most procrastinators don’t hate work and are willing to put a lot of energy into meaningful tasks.

Unfortunately, the willingness to work often gets lost in the mental fog that surrounds procrastination. Sorting through the reasons why people procrastinate can help identify root causes and may allow you to overcome them. With that in mind, below are some common causes for procrastination:

• Fear of failure – A widespread reason for procrastination is the fear of failure. Procrastinators often don’t want to start a task if they believe they won’t succeed. Even if they know they will “fail” a task they never start, they feel that they maintain control over the process and can often better accept rejection if it results from self-sabotage.
• Lack of decision-making skills – Many procrastinators are unable to effectively make decisions, especially if they were exposed to harsh, overbearing authority figures during their formative years. As a result, they may put off making important decisions out of uncertainty until forced to do so.
• Inability to prioritize tasks – Some individuals who procrastinate experience problems with self-regulation, and they may struggle with knowing which tasks should be placed first. Because of that, procrastinators often fill their time with relatively trivial tasks when they should be focusing on more significant duties.

How to Beat Procrastination

While ending procrastination is rarely an overnight process, the good news is that individuals can be freed from its grip. Below are several strategies you can adopt to help you fight procrastination in your own life and regain control:

• Remove unnecessary distractions – While distractions in-and-of themselves don’t cause procrastination, they can make it easier. That’s why turning off phones, putting away laptops and even changing your physical location can help remove distractions. Be assertive with friends who might take you away from your tasks, and ask them to respect your time.
• Schedule high-priority tasks – Always put your schedule in writing. Do not rely on your memory, but physically write-down important tasks along with due dates. Place your schedule in a prominent location where it will be seen by you.
• Identify negative consequences – Think through the logical consequences of procrastination and identify the cost you will pay for putting things off. You should consider how procrastination will not only cost you in terms of dollars and cents but how it will negatively affect relationships.
• Ask for accountability – Accountability partners can help you thwart procrastination. Ask people who can help you keep your schedule straight to provide reminders and check on task status. Just be careful that accountability partners don’t become a hindrance or enablers to procrastination.

Norrbotten, a province in northern Sweden, was an area prone to a wide variations of famine and abundance in the early to mid 19th century. Data was meticulously collected during that time, looking at what years famine and abundance took place, and the overall health of the population. What the scientists at the Karolinska Institute discovered was that children who suffered from famine early in their lives turned on and off certain genes in their genetic code – which would later influence the health of their offspring in negative ways. In times of abundance the same was true but in reverse – children born from this group generally grew up healthier and bigger. This observed phenomenon was a shocking conclusion that flew in the face of Darwinian evolution – significant genetic changes weren’t happening over millions of years, but rather over the course of just a single generation. Environmental factors seem to not just be integral to an organism’s survival, but can also influence the genetic markers of their offspring. It was from this that the foundation for modern epigenetics was laid.

Conrad Waddington and the Epigenetic Landscape

The precursor to the contemporary field of epigenetics was a biologist named Conrad Waddington. In the late 1930s Waddington observed that the Drosophila, a genus of fly, had activated a gene in response to an application of heat. This gene specifically targeted the formation of the wing and seemed to be heritable. The next couple generations of Drosophila then inherited this trait despite not undergoing any heat stressors. After more observations, Waddington was able to assert that gene regulation is not only influenced by the environment, but also heritable. This theory of genetic assimilation led to Waddington using the epigenetic landscape metaphor. In this metaphor he used the imagery of a marble going down a hill. The final stopping points of this marble represent the type of tissue that it would ultimately become – with the resting point being influenced by the path of the hill. Here, epigenetics is the study of the changes that can occur on that path, leading to a new stopping point for the marble.

Lamarckianism

This theory of genetic assimilation brought a lot of rebuke from his colleagues – the primary criticism that Waddington was supporting a modern version of Lamarckian inheritance. Lamarckian inheritance, a hypothesis put forward by French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, asserted that used characteristics during an organism’s lifetime where heritable by their offspring. Also called soft inheritance, this idea was largely considered debunk after a host of experiments largely disproved it. Other scientists came to Waddington’s defense, putting forward that while Waddington was critical of pure Darwinism, he still considered himself a Darwinian scientist. Nonetheless, there are still some who support the idea that epigenetics is a form of neo-Lamarckianism.

Epigenetics in the Modern Era

While term has been around since the 17th century and has historically meant simply ‘extra growth’, the modern usage of epigenetics didn’t start to develop until the 1990s. Even then, as the burgeoning science started to grow, epigenetics could have a fluid meaning. It wasn’t until a Cold Spring Harbor meeting of scientists in a December 2008 concluded that epigenetic traits are merely phenotypes that heritable and change without any alterations to the DNA. Today the field has grown leaps and bounds with small studies on epigenetic inheritance in mice, to data collected from large scale modern famines such as in during the Great Leap Forward in China. This data has influenced the pharmaceutical, medical, and psychology fields in dramatic ways. Using inhibitors like 5-azacytidine can help turn off genes that lead to diabetic retinopathy – which is damage to the eye as a result of diabetes. Exposure therapy in treating anxiety and trauma is also heavily influenced by epigenetics – individuals exposed to stimuli that makes them fearful in a controlled environment has led to increased receptors in the brain that are crucial to activating genes to downregulate this anxiety. Other studies have found how pollutants can modify our genetic code to make use more susceptible to different types of cancers and other diseases.

The Future of Epigenetics

The field of epigenetics has come far, but still has a long way to go. since Ever since the completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) there has been a push to properly map all the different epigenetic traits. This would be a considerable process that would be even larger in scope than the massive HGP was. This Human Epigenome Project (HEM), if completed, could cause massive breakthroughs in how scientists treat diseases and mental disorders. Genetic modification, once the realm of fiction, now has a possibility to become a reality.

Also check out my E-Book – Epigenetics: How to Modify Your Gene Expression For Optimal Health

Citations:

http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/23/7/781.full

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3857581/

https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/fundamentals/#fn-12-9

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2861525/

In an increasingly connected world, we are using your electronic devices more and more. New research shows that along with the pressure to keep up on social media, massive consumption of news and entertainment on our devices, and communicating with work, friends, and family via messaging, we are spending more of our life is staring down at a screen. The result is an increased incidence of chronic neck and back pain.

Is Tech Causing Your Back Pain?

The study, performed by the British Chiropractic Association finds that tech the underlying cause of many new cases of chronic neck and back pain, but also that we are unlikely to change our usage habits due to feeling pain and discomfort.

Despite the fact that 56 percent of participants complained of experiencing back and neck pain related to use of their digital device, only 27 percent would agree to limit or stop using their devices.

Younger Chronic Back Pain Sufferers

Another revelation was that there were more cases of younger people experiencing ongoing or chronic discomfort than was expected.

• One in seven 16 – 24-year-olds reported experiencing back or neck pain when they used their smartphones
• Over half of the 25 – 34-year-olds polled admitted they suffered after using a laptop

These results are startling, indicating that many people will risk their health and well-being to keep connected to technology. So, what can be done for this type of neck and back pain?

Head Forward Posture

There are many ways to decrease back pain. Observing good posture is one key element. The head forward posture that has become so common when interacting with our handhelds is the worst aggravator for back pain and can cause nerve damage as well, over time. For every inch you lean forward from the neutral neck position, you increase the weight pressure on your spine by ten pounds. For most of us, this means we are regularly putting an extra 30 pounds of pressure on our neck and upper back tissues.

Exercises to Relieve Back and Neck Stress

Proper head and neck positioning are critical to improving your posture and decreasing your pain.

Posture Tips:

• Keep your shoulders back.
• You should feel a slight tension in your chest muscles when your shoulders are pulled back to the appropriate position.
• Your chin should always be at a 90-degree angle from your chest. This will correct the forward head posture mentioned previously.
• Remember that it is ok to lift your device up so that your head and neck remain in a neutral posture.
• Avoid sitting on the floor when using your devices as this causes pronounced curvature of the spine.

Yoga and stretching are fantastic for elongating the muscles and spine. This will relieve back pain and improve your posture at the same time. There are several classic yoga poses known to improve back and neck pain. These include:

• The Plow or plough is an advanced pose that will help decompress and elongate the spine, relieving pressure and pain in the back and neck.
• Downward Dog works to energize and rejuvenate the entire body. It deeply stretches your lower back, shoulders, hamstring, calves, arches, and spine while it builds strength in your arms, shoulders, neck, and legs.
• The Child’s Pose is great if you happen to sit at a desk most days, stand for periods of time, or have some compression in your lower back. Folding your upper body over your legs also immediately reverses the splaying of the tailbone that can often be the cause of lower back pain. Child’s Pose opens up and stretches this area of the body.
• Cat Pose – There are many benefits of the Cat Pose, including relieving stress from lower back pain, and sciatica. The cat pose also increases the flexibility of your neck, shoulders, hips, back, spine, abdomen, and chest.
• Bharadvaja’s Twist – Benefits are that it stretches the spine, shoulders, and hips, while it massages the abdominal organs, relieving lower back, neck, and sciatic pains.

Chronic back pain affects millions of Americans every day. There are many causes for this. However, new research suggests that poor posture from overuse of technology like handheld devices are contributing to more pain and in a younger population. Practicing proper body mechanics and posture is the best way to prevent the onset of pain. Stretches and exercises like yoga can offer relief from pain, as well.