Greenville Pain Doctor

For all those caffeine-addicted bikers out there, here’s your excuse to keep drinking.

The Jolt is Legit The performance boost you get from caffeine is a result of how it hot-wires your central nervous system, says Matthew Ganio, PhD, an exercise physiologist at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine in Dallas. “Caffeine crowds out a calming brain chemical called adenosine,” he says. You become more alert, you react faster, and you don’t feel like you’re working as hard, all of which add up to training or competing at a higher intensity for a longer period of time and being more agile in a pack.

It will not dehydrate you “In reasonable doses, caffeine alone won’t lead to more bathroom breaks during a ride or greater risk of dehydration,” says Mindy Millard-Stafford, PhD, former president of American College of Sports Medicine. The upshot, she says, is that regardless whether you supplement with caffeine, you don’t need additional fluid to avoid performance-sapping dehydration during a ride. The long-held belief that caffeine can muck with your body’s ability to regulate heat during exercise in hot weather has certainly been muted by science.

It affects everyone differently Before breaking out a venti on event day, Ganio suggests testing what caffeine does to you during hard training sessions. “If you feel jittery, anxious, or notice your heart racing, dial back the amount you take in before a ride,” says Ganio. “If you can’t find a caffeine level that leaves you feeling comfortable, skip it. Side effects can impair performance.”

You can develop tolerance Your body eventually adapts to the effects of caffeine, limiting the performance benefit. If you regularly drink more than five daily cups of coffee, Ganio recommends tapering your intake by a half cup a day for several days prior to a big ride, saving higher amounts of caffeine for before and during actual events.

Timing is everything It takes 60 minutes for caffeine to start affecting the body, so imbibe one hour before a ride. “For rides lasting two hours or more, take half of your caffeine before and the other half in divided amounts during the ride,” says Ganio, “making sure to consume the remainder when there is more than an hour left in your ride.” Say you plan to take 200mg of caffeine for a three-hour ride: Aim for 100mg one hour before you get on the bike, and 50mg at the beginning of each hour thereafter.

Training trumps it “While caffeine can boost performance by 3 to 5 percent, training can bring about improvements by upwards of 50%,” Ganio says. There’s also the possibility of getting over-amped and going out too hard too soon, leaving you nothing in the tank well before the ride’s end. Bottom line: No amount of caffeine will turn a donkey into a thoroughbred.

¾ cup raw butter
1 ⅓ cup honey
2 organic eggs
1 ½ cups raw peanut butter (or almond butter)
3 cups whole wheat flour (or almond flour)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp vanilla

Beat butter, honey, eggs, and peanut butter. Mix in flour, soda and salt. Scoop spoonfuls and drop onto cookie sheets, press flat with fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Makes 32.

When the sun comes out and warms the earth many of you can’t help but go and spend all day out in the beautiful sunshine. But when you come in after a day of gardening you might be so sore you can barely walk or you might be standing bent over. Below we will list some tips that will supplement a chiropractic treatment as well as healthy nutrition.

1. Set a time limit. Decide how long you will be spending in the garden and don’t get stay longer than you planned!

2. Keep moving around. Don’t stay in one position for more than half an hour. Repetitive movement is one of the main causes of back pain related to gardening. So keep rotating between different tasks! Alternating your stance and movement help to keep the body balanced.

3. When digging keep your back straight, don’t twist from side to side. Another option is to find lightweight, long-handled tools to reduce bending.

4. Be careful when lifting heavy objects. If the object is too heavy get help from someone else. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy objects in bulk. When you get home though transfer into smaller containers to ease distribution.

5. Avoid carrying heavy watering cans back and forth across the yard.

6. If you start to feel pain, stop gardening for the day. If you continue to feel pain take a warm bath with epsom salts. You can also ice the sore area for 20 minutes at a time.

7. Stop by at the chiropractor for a treatment!