Life and Reviews

By:  Lettuce Wrap 

Sleep deprivation is not a good thing.  What is really bad is when you are so tired that it hurts to keep your eyes open, but when you lie down, sleep doesn’t come.  Sad but true, that is what usually happens my first night off work when I try to get back a day shift life for my 2 or 3 days off.  This is known as “shift lag.”  That is where I am this morning.  Unfortunately, life doesn’t stop for sleep deprivation or a 3rd shifter. 

 I have to roll out of the bed this morning after less than 3 hours sleep last night to get up and get the kids up and off to school.  On top of that, it is raining heavily and has been for a couple of days which means the streets have lots of standing water on them.  Now, I have to drive quite a ways across town to get my kids to school half asleep driving in the rain.  This scares the very crap out of me every time I have to do it.  I worry that my reflexes won’t be fast enough if something happens and I need to react quickly.  Fortunately, God has watched over me and kept that from happening so far.  It is a frightening cycle I deal with on a weekly basis as do many 3rd shift workers. 

What’s more, it has been proven that missed or lost sleep can never be “made up.”  It is always a deficit.  I have worked 3rd shift for 8 years now.  Why do I work 3rd shift you may ask yourself? In my field on 3rd shift I do not have to deal with as many doctors, managers, or patients as I work at a local hospital as a radiologic technologist (x-ray tech).  Actually, I do as many patients on 3rd shift alone as day shift does with 5 techs. 

What if anything can a shift worker do to improve sleep quality? 

As a shift worker, I have read that the first step we need to take is to make sure we have no underlying health factors causing us to have poor quality sleep.  Some common sleep disorders that further complicate sleep include:  sleep apnea, nrcolepsy, and even depression.  Discuss your problem with your primary care and he/she may recommend you have a sleep study to make sure you have none of the above conditions.  

As a shift worker, it is imperative to find a dark, quiet, cool place to sleep during the daytime.  This tricks your brain into thinking it is night-time.  I have heavy shades that I pull down when I am sleeping during the day that mimic night-time darkness.  Also, when I get off work and the sun is beginning to rise, I put on my sunglasses to help my brain still think it is night-time.

Surprisingly, people can go without sleep for prolonged periods of time, but it will definitely cut into your productivity.  Long-term sleep deprivation injures your health.

Check out the link below to see just how detrimental third shift can be on a person….

http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002656.html

The loss of sleep over the years causes some serious problems not only in your health but your coping mechanisms, family life and social life.  This certainly describes me, “They are more likely to be emotional and impulsive rather than patiently working things out with family members.”  Especially since I am in the “sandwich generation” which means I am taking care of my small children and my mother.  Talk about the pressures of life! Geez.

Some of the tips I am certainly going to implement to improve my life are:

• wearing dark wrap-around sunglasses on the drive home
• free up the entire day for sleeping
• wear earplugs or make sure your house is well sound-proofed
• getting bright light at work to keep me alert
• taking over-the-counter melatonin 

Radiation Doses From Things Around Us

Did you know…

• Foods that are rich in potassium like fruits, beans, lentils, vegetables, and some whole grains expose us to radiation as potassium decays? Less than 1/4 of one percent of the potassium in foods we eat is radioactive.  The food we eat exposes us to about 40 millirem of radiation each year.
• If you live near a nuclear power plant, you’ll receive about .009 millirem of radiation each year.
• Smoke detectors save lives, but they also expose us to radiation because they contain a tiny amount of americium, a man-made radioactive element.  When smoke blocks the radiation emitted by the americum, a sensor sounds the alarm.  A smoke detector exposes us to less than a millirem of radiation each year.
• Smoking 1 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day can result in exposure to 1,300 millirem of radiation per year.  Tobacco has a high concentration of polonium-210, a naturally occurring radioactive element.
• Flying in an airplane reduces the thickness of atmosphere shielding you from cosmic sources of radiation, including our sun and cosmic rays.  You receive about 1 millirem of radiation for each 1,000 miles you fly.  If you flew the Space Shuttle, you’d receive more radiation:  between 433 millirem and 7,864 millirem depending on the duration of your mission.
• A miner works underground, closer to the elements that decay under the earth’s surface.  A uranium miner, because he’s mining a radioactive element, may receive upwards of 300 millirem per year. 
• A member of an airline crew receives about 200 millirem a year on the job.
• A chest x-ray only gives about 25 millirem
• Dental x-rays give 25-35 millirem/occurrence
• Dental x-rays give more does also because they are not calibrated as often as x-ray equipment.

Of course, these are just a few ways we receive radiation exposure often without even realizing it.

A new positron emission tomography technique could provide early detection of prostate cancer spread to nearby lymph nodes, allowing opportunities to treat the cancer before it spreads to distant organs. 

Prostate cancer spread to the pelvic lymph nodes is an important prognostic indicator, suggesting disease recurrence and progression.  Detecting spread to the lymph nodes is critical for treatment planning.  However, small cancer metastases in the pelvic lymph nodes are very difficult to find using conventional imaging tools such as computed tomography.

Researchers at the University of CA in Los Angeles developed a new method for detecting prostate cancer spread to the lymph nodes by engineering a virus that travels to the cancer and delivers its payload of proteins there.  The proteins are visible on PET scans.

 This helps to improve the prognosis for these patients by letting us find and treat these metastases early.

Can’t eat healthy? Always eating and running out the door? Don’t have time to get in 5 servings of fruits and 5 servings of vegetables each and every day?  Most people do not.  While eating the raw fresh fruit or vegetable is best, Juice Plus+^®  is certainly the next best thing to eating whole fruits and vegetables. 

Juice Plus+^® is recommended by Dr. Sears known for his www.AskDrSears.com webpage…here is his story:

           Juice Plus+^® Complete

Each morning I put a scoopful of Juice Plus+® Complete into my fruit and yogurt smoothie. Every day I take my Fruit and Veggie Juice Plus+® Capsules, and dole out Juice Plus+® to our kids in the form of powder, pills, capsules and JP+ Gummies® according to their age and taste.  Then I go to my office and recommend the Juice Plus+® Children Health Study to the families in my pediatric practice, especially those who are sick a lot.

Do I feel passionate about this product? Yes! Here’s why.

In April of 1997 I underwent major surgery for colon cancer, followed by a long course of radiation and chemotherapy.  Realizing that colon cancer, and all major diseases for that matter, are influenced by diet, I was determined not to let my medical problem repeat itself.  So I began devouring medical literature on the connection between diet and health.  During the year following my surgery, I read volumes about nutrition, subscribed to every nutrition journal I could find, put together a collection of over 500 file folders about food and became what my friends tagged a “health nut.” About three months into my new style of eating, I noticed some amazing changes.  My energy level skyrocketed,prompting my wife, Martha to call me “Zip.” We stepped up our ballroom dancing and even beat some of the younger couples in the swing contest.  My mind was working better, too.  I no longer needed glasses.  I just plain felt good all over – mind and body – and finally learned what it is to experience real well-being.  Too bad I had to get sick in order to learn to eat right instead of eating right to keep from getting sick. 

Why was I feeling so good?  The answer seemed clear: I was putting the right fuel into my body that made it run better. As a father of eight, author of 28 books, a pediatrician at the peak of his career I was going to do everything to keep my health up and not let the cancer reoccur.  Talk about motivation!  During my quests for what constitutes good health I devoured books and articles about supplements and discovered that one of the secrets of good health is to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables that contain disease fighting chemicals called “phytonutrients.”  I call them “phytos” for short.  The same phytos that help keep the plants healthy help keep our bodies healthy. Even thousands of years ago Hippocrates said, “let food be thy medicine.”  As I studied the parade of supplements out there I’ve concluded that whatever supplement I take must have good science and make good sense. 

That’s how I came across Juice Plus+®.  It had good science behind it and made good sense. A whole food based supplement! Whole foods, a bunch of the healthiest fruits and vegetables, juiced and dried at low temperatures, removing the water, sugar, salt and bulk. These nutritious juice powders are then put into capsules, chewables and gummies! Intrigued by this concept of packaged phytos I realize my life depended upon eating the right foods and taking the right supplements.  So, I did my life saving detective work.  While visiting the company where Juice Plus+® is made I saw first hand the care and quality that went into this product.  In examining their independent research I discovered that they had measured the blood levels and found that disease-fighting “phytos” go way up after taking Juice Plus+®.  This was a vital discovery since it’s not what’s on the package label that’s important, it’s how much gets into the body.  Finally I grilled the company executives.  They were honorable people.  The combination of good science, good sense and a reputable company convinced me that this would be my supplement of choice. 

Since taking Juice Plus+® daily and following an overall healthy eating and exercise program I have not even had so much as a cold, even though my wonderful little patients share their germs with me everyday. The parents of children who are sick a lot often thank me: “Since my children have been taking Juice Plus+® they haven’t been sick as often.”  Juice Plus+® is now the only whole food supplement I take. I’m pleased to recommend the joy of taking Juice Plus+®. to everyone who takes their health seriously. ~Dr. William Sears~

Juice Plus+^® :

• delivers key phytonutrients that are absorbed by the body
• reduces oxidative stress
• helps support a healthy immune system
• helps protect DNA
• positively impacts several key indicators of cardiovascular wellness

Is Juice Plus+^®  as good as eating fruits and vegetables? There’s no complete substitute for eating the real thing. But how many people actually eat such a wide variety of raw fruits, vegetables and grains every single day? Juice Plus is a convenient way to ensure you and your family get all the benefits over time from adding more nutrition from fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet. These benefits include prevention of cancer and chronic illness, stronger immune system to protect against disease, slower aging, healthier heart and lower cholesterol.

One very important factor about fruits and vegetables that is often neglected by Americans is that they need to be eaten raw. Heat destroys the enzymes, fiber, and other active nutrients present in raw foods. In order to receive all the benefits of fruits and vegetables we need to eat them fresh and uncooked.

How many of us actually eat five servings of raw fruits and vegetables every day? Most Americans may eat an orange with breakfast and maybe an apple with lunch. We are pretty good at making sure we finish our one or two cooked vegetables at dinnertime. However, virtually all of us fall far short of the quantity of raw fruits and vegetables required to protect us from cancer, chronic disease, infection, high cholesterol and heart disease. Very few of us are receiving the nutrition required to help our bodies run smoothly and efficiently and to maximize our potential for a healthy life.

It is difficult to get adults to consume their share of fruits and vegetables, but trying to coax children, from toddlerhood through the teenage years, to eat enough of them is near impossible. Many parents worry about their two-year-old who barely seems to eat anything at all or the busy teenager on-the-go who doesn’t sit down to eat. The active nutrients in fruits and vegetables can maximize the physical and intellectual development of our children as they grow through the school-age years.

What is Juice Plus+^® ?      Juice Plus+^®  is more than extra vitamins and minerals. It is actually a whole food supplement. The fruit capsules are made from apples, oranges, pineapples, cranberries, peaches, cherries, papayas, dates and prunes. The vegetable capsules are made from carrots, barley, parsley, beets, kale, broccoli, cabbage, oats, spinach, tomatoes.

How is Juice Plus+^®  made? The fresh fruits and vegetables are juiced, then dehydrated to a powder form. It’s carefully tested to ensure no pesticides or other contaminants are present in the product. It is never exposed to high temperatures that would destroy the nutritional value of the fruits and vegetables. Most of the vitamins, minerals, active plant enzymes, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and fiber are preserved in the final capsules. When re-hydrated with water, the nutrients are absorbed into our bodies as if we had eaten the fruits and vegetables whole.

This all may sound complicated, but the simple truth is that Juice Plus+^® is the best way to get your entire family to reap all the benefits of a diet rich in raw fruits and vegetables.

Do your children get sick all the time?

Do you frequently feel tired and run-down?

Is there a strong family history of cancer or heart disease in your family?

Is it nearly impossible to get your children to eat fruits and vegetables?

Are you lacking the recommended 7 servings of raw fruits and vegetables each day?

If the answer to any of these is yes, then Juice Plus+^® is extremely important for you and your family. 

Juice Plus+^® comes in three forms:

• capsules for adults
• chewable tablets for older children
• great tasting gummy bears for toddlers and younger children

Eat the fruit capsules at breakfast and the vegetable capsules at dinner with a glass of water to rehydrate them.

I am very excited about Juice Plus+^® and have seen the benefits in myself and my children. Our physician recommended for us to try it, and we are glad we did.  Start your family on Juice Plus+^® today and see the benefits over a lifetime!