EP. 23: Most Googled
Top 5 of the Most Common Health Questions for Google
- Why am I always tired?
- Why do I snore?
- How do I prevent influenza?
- Why I am always bloated?
- How do I manage hypertension?
I’m diving into five of the most Googled Health questions and offering my experience from practice on what has helped my patients through natural remedies or a holistic approach. Sometimes it’s just amping up your immunity and energy metabolism which we can all do through reducing toxins, eating whole foods, limiting stress, and getting enough rest. I’ve also incorporated specific supplements and herbs to aid in these things. Sometimes, there are simple, practical ways to improve your quality of life. There are so many things that can be done before pharmaceutical interventions, and I am happy to share them with you.
Show Notes
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So we're going to cover today five of the most common Googled health questions. Some of these we can use some natural remedies, others are just lifestyle and dietary changes. So hopefully if these are your questions, you get them answered. So one of the top ones is why am I always tired? Oh my gosh, so many reasons. Probably from what I've seen in practice, one of the most common issues is too much screen time, right? We're on the
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computers, we're on our phones all the time, kids are on their pads, on their school tablets, just way too much stimulation. So a good recommendation, and I have them on now, are blue light glasses. These I got at J.Crew for 10 bucks. You can get blue lens in your prescription glasses as well. This really helps with eye strain, fatigue, it helps with the neurological impact of technology. So that's one of the hacks that I like to use. Another thing to do is of course put technology down at least a half an hour before bed. What I always do and my
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husband kind of laughs at me is because of the radiation exposure I put my phone on airplane mode and I keep it way away from my head and I sometimes just leave it charged out in the kitchen just to not have that light if I get a notification and again just kind of keep the radiation down. Another reason why a lot of people are tired is they're just not sleeping, right?
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Not being mindful, not decompressing from the day. So just winding down, doing some meditation, some deep breathing. There's so many good apps. One that we like to use is the Calm app. My little guy loves that
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because he's into Paw Patrol right now. And they have a guided meditation and wind down for kids on that. The other one that I've used in the past is Headspace. Really like that one because it's fun. There's a gentleman on there that has a British accent
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and he does all of these different meditations and there's bedtime stories. So using some of those to wind down if you have a hard time meditating or praying or just doing some deep breathing. If that's not your thing the apps are a great solution but again do those well before bedtime. Another reason why people are always tired just
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the fast-paced lifestyle right? We get up, we're out the door, we don't eat well, the rush is a big big impact for sure our adrenals get stressed out too much coffee too much processed food all the things that we've talked about in previous podcasts so again just kind of being mindful of an anti-inflammatory diet being present throughout your whole day just slowing down keeping stress levels at bay as best you can and if you do have some bad stress, try to manipulate
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it into good stress and you know kind of pick and choose your battles with those stressful events. Another reason for always being tired, especially for my ladies, thyroid. So a proper thyroid panel, at least in my opinion, is doing a TSH, a T3, a T4, and then especially post-COVID and if you've had mono, doing the antibodies for thyroid, so a TG antibody and a TPO antibody. Those just tell us if you have an autoimmune thyroid issue and that really
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gives us a nice picture. So that, looking at your hormone panel for you guys out there, getting your testosterone checked after 30 is a must, getting your B12 checked, your D. There's so many factors that go into energy metabolism and fatigue. So those are good places to start. And again, coming back to diet and lifestyle, really reducing toxins as best you can, and just enjoying life and being present.
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So a second most common Googled question is snoring. I can't tell you how many patients, they are snorers or they go in for a sleep study, and I would say as a safe bet, at least nine out of 10 or 10 out of 10 that go in for a sleep study come back with a CPAP machine. I have not had a patient yet who's gone in for a sleep
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study that has passed without a CPAP. So I don't know if it's just being more commonly diagnosed. I don't know if because of obesity and being overweight and inflamed if that's causing it, but snoring is definitely a real issue. So one of the things that really helps with snoring is, and I know you guys know this, but kind of elevating the bed a little bit.
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And now with the mattresses, having the ability to do that, that does help. But to me, that doesn't really fix the root of the issue. We gotta figure out why you're snoring. So I've also had a lot of patients who've had sinus surgery
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because their sinuses are not straight, right? And they still snore. So that's not a solution either. It can certainly help and they do say that they breathe more clear after the surgery, but the snoring doesn't really change. So number one for snoring, of course, inflammation, right? It comes back to diet. A lot of things do. So diet, losing weight, can help. One of the most important things is being a nose breather and
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breathing right. We don't breathe right as a society. So as funny as it is, get some mouth tape and start taping your mouth and start breathing through your nose. There's a really good book out there called Breathe and it just talks about all the scientific benefits of being a nasal breather versus a mouth breather, how it changes the facial structure, your hormone production. It's a great book to look up and I'll put that on my shop page. And my kiddos, so my husband's a mouth breather
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and my kiddos are too. So this is something that we'll have to address as they get a little bit older. I know as they're babies you can always kind of push their chin up a little bit if they start to breathe with their mouth. But my son's three and a half and he's still a mouth breather so we'll be doing the tape in the future. But that's a very common issue with snoring is not breathing right, not breathing with your belly versus your lungs and ribs, weight,
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and then again an inflamed diet. The other thing that at least my husband and I have noticed is if we have gluten, either by intentional consumption or by contamination, we get so stuffy. I know if my husband has a beer, he's immediately stuffy. Sometimes the wines, the sulfites in the wines can do it. So just kind of be aware. Histamine is a big sign with inflammation, so just kind of be aware of what you're eating, what you're doing as far as your weight, your exercise, and then how you're breathing. So the third most common Googled question is about influenza.
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So right now we're enjoying summer. It's not really a time to think about the flu, but school starts for some less than a month, and fall is right around the corner. So interesting enough, the flu vaccine, if you get it, is only 40 to 60 percent effective. So, what do I recommend naturally? Again, keeping a good immune system, so good probiotics, vitamin C, healthy diet.
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One of my hacks is using something called Flu No-Sode. So this is out of a company called Professional Complimentary. They're out of Portland, Oregon. And so every year when there's a new flu strain, they come out with a new flu nose soda. And it's very similar to the flu vaccine, but just clean. And I've been using that for about 20 years. I'm using it in practice, using it with my family, and knock on wood, we
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don't get the flu. So that's our little trick. Vitamin C, as I said, probiotics, keeping some elderberry on hand is a good thing. If you notice that kids in school or people at work are starting to get sick, boosting up your elderberry can really make a difference. And then antioxidants, right?
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So clean fruits and vegetables and just getting enough rest too. So another common issue is bloating, right? I have so many patients talk about bloating. So many factors can go into this. Diet's number one, right?
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Number two would probably be stress because our gut is our second brain. So number one, taking good probiotics. Number two, taking digestive enzymes. So if you have any reflux or heartburn, if you get the hiccups a lot, anything upper GI, that
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tells me that you need some digestive enzymes, especially if you've had your gallbladder out because your body doesn't know that your gallbladder is not there. So taking digestive enzymes with food is very helpful. What I always tell patients, if you have something pre-digested almost, like yogurt or smoothie, something light, you don't need to take them. But if you have something substantial, so like salad, chicken, steak, potatoes, something heavier,
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then take one to see digestive enzymes of the meal because that'll help to break down the food, right? Optimal absorption. The probiotics are great because they help the lower gut, so they help with good gut flora, optimal immunity, and the other issue with bloating, so gluten for sure. Gluten and dairy are two common triggers for bloating. The cleanliness of those can make a really big difference. As we've talked through some of the podcasts, pasta from Italy digests a lot
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Same thing with organic and or raw milk or yogurt versus commercialized dairy products. So those are common issues. The other little hidden one I want you guys to start looking at on ingredients are gums. So when you look at ingredients,
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if it says guar gum or any kind of gum, those are notorious for causing bloating. Those and sugar alcohols. So if it says like Xalatol, Malitol, Urethritol, anything that ends in an all is an alcohol. And those, because they're sugar alcohols,
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just like alcohol, it ferments in your gut, right? So it can cause a lot of bloating and discomfort. So looking at ingredients, of course, being conscious of your diet, managing stress, all of those issues can really make a difference with bloating. And what I always like to recommend too, if you're able to, after you eat, this is always possible, but just go for a walk. Walking
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is good for stress relief, it's good for digestion, and it just helps to get So the last commonly Googled question is how do I manage hypertension? Well, we have a whole podcast on this with Dr. Corey Shuler, and we talk about some natural remedies and some common causes and issues with that. Number one, again, it's going to come back to diet. Diet makes a big difference, all that extra sodium with processed foods,
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being overweight, being obese, being inflamed. Stress, stress is huge, once again. So it, kind of just being mindful, being aware of your stressors, your triggers, appropriately managing stress. And then as far as natural remedies go,
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so, again, I think there's a time and a place for medications. There's some blood pressure medications that are better than others, some have more side effects. I know a few years ago lisinopril was kind of recalled because of some side effects with it. The most common issue with that one is a cough
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which I've seen quite a bit in patients. One of the bad things about medications with hypertension, but indirectly it can affect absorption of some nutrients. So one of the things that we talked about with the podcast with Dr. Corey Shuler is something hidden, so mouthwash,
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can actually increase blood pressure. So looking at lifestyles like that, along with watching sodium, there is some really good research with magnesium helping with hypertension, yoga, mindfulness, hawthorn berry is another one. You just want to kind of be careful and check with your provider as far as any possible
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interactions and of course with your own health history what would be the best option for you. But if you want to learn more information check out our podcast focusing on hypertension with Dr. But if you want to learn more information check out our podcast focusing on hypertension with Dr.
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hypertension with Dr. Cori Shuler.
Transcribed with Cockatoo