Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
Many times, when people try to make changes in their lives that impact their health, they look at making a change as a monumental event. They believe that a major change will be daunting and require an overwhelming amount of effort, and they get discouraged before the actual attempt.
Simple changes that one makes can add up to a monumental lifestyle change that affects one’s health in a major way.
An example would be exercising. Your healthcare provider is reminding you at each visit about the benefits of exercising. I can assure you that they do not want you to start running a marathon. What they want is for you to incorporate changes in your life that increase your activity. Examples would be to get off the sofa and walk around the house while the television commercials are in progress. Try parking the car further away from your workplace, the grocery store, or far from appointments to help increase your activity. Take a walk and start walking one minute away then one minute back. Increase that amount each week until your two-minute walk has grown to be a 15-to-30-minute walk. It may take some time to build up your stamina but with each week, you get closer to your goal of exercising more.
Another simple act to promote good health is to practice good dental hygiene by brushing and flossing your teeth. These simple acts have big payoffs. Research studies on dental hygiene have followed patients for more than 25 years and show that regularly brushing and flossing will lower the body’s level of inflammation and the level of oral infection. The research found that more women flossed than men and that flossing was lower in African American participants.
The data also indicate that flossing has a direct influence on one’s health by reducing inflammation and oral infection in the body. Flossers had less hypertension and diabetes than their non-flossing counterparts. It also showed that flossers had fewer strokes than non-flossers.
Researchers also found that people who floss their teeth experienced less atrial fibrillation, which affects one’s potential for developing a stroke.
These health benefits from flossing were felt to be above just simple tooth brushing. Flossing removes food particles or plaque stuck between teeth and it also cleans the gums and does it better than tooth brushing. The researchers emphasized that plaque could contribute to gum disease and tooth decay, which also leads to increased inflammation. That inflammation has been tied to the hardening of blood vessels or arteriosclerosis and that can lead to a heart attack, stroke and an irregular heartbeat or atrial fibrillation.
Flossing is cost-effective and it is an amazingly simple act that can yield immense health benefits. It might be one of those simple habits that you might want to immediately incorporate into your daily habits if you haven’t already done so.
Dr. Veita Bland is a board-certified Greensboro physician and hypertension specialist. Dr. Bland’s radio show, “It’s a Matter of Your Health,” can be heard live on Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m. on N.C. A&T State University’s WNAA, 90.1 FM. Listeners may call in and ask questions. The show is replayed on Sirius 142 at 5 p.m. on Wed. Email Dr. Bland at ideas@blandclinicpa.com.
