Health & Fitness

The catastrophe of plastic pollution is growing worse. Single-use plastic bottles and bags, food packaging, fishing nets and biosolids are turning the world's oceans, seas and beaches into tragic wastelands. Microplastics from artificial clothing fibers and microbeads in personal care products add to the devastation.

Plastic is everywhere. Bottled water, grocery bags, shower curtains, garbage can liners and kitchen utensils are just a few of the ways plastic has made its way into every aspect of our daily lives. Our throwaway mentality, bred and fed by the mass production of plastics, has created a pollution problem that now threatens the very future of humanity.

It threatens fish, birds and water supplies, including still-pristine areas completely free from industrialization. The world now produces 299 million tons of plastics a year, most of which ends up in the oceans.

Biosolids spread on cropland increase the problem as they too contain microplastics. Once called "sewage sludge," biosolids are widely used as “natural fertilizer” in the U.S. and other countries.

In addition to plastics, biosolids contain PCBs, dioxins, pharmaceuticals, hormones, surfactants, heavy metals and disease-causing pathogens. A hard-hitting documentary from Sky News, “A Plastic Tide," showcases the urgent problem of plastic pollution and what some activists are doing about it.

Waterways Are Being Turned Into Synthetic Soup

“The ocean where life on Earth began is being turned into a synthetic soup” — so begins a dramatic Sky News documentary, “A Plastic Tide," narrated by science correspondent Thomas Moore.¹ As Moore traverses from Mumbai, India, to Plymouth, London, the Netherlands, Belgium, Indian islands and Scotland, even the most ardent environmentalist will be shocked at the plastic toll.

"We are sleep walking into a catastrophe," says Moore as Afroz Shah, an activist and beach cleaner, escorts him through Mumbai streets to show him the extent of plastic pollution on a local beach. Shah and Moore agree that it is not a beach at all but a dump site, as they wade through the plastic waste and wearing yellow protective gloves. "This isn't litter dropped on the beach; it's come from the sea," says Moore.

Shah, says the documentary started the "world's biggest beach clean" with 4,000 tons of trash cleared. He says he remembers the polluted beach as a pristine swimming area when he was young and is disheartened to see its demise and public indifference. "People think the prime minister of this country should come on the beach and clean," says Shah.² They do not feel personal responsibility for the shocking amounts of plastic debris.

Especially harmful are single-use plastics such as shopping bags. Shah points out blue bags from the mall scattered across the beach. Citizens unthinkingly accept and discard them, he says, thinking it is not their problem.

Near the beach, Moore interviews some fishermen who confirm that their nets catch only plastic these days, not fish, and so they are idle. "There is no point in fishing here," says an unnamed fisherman. By 2050, the plastic in the sea could weigh more than all the fish, adds Moore.

A University of Plymouth Professor Weighs In

After the tour of Mumbai, Moore visits Richard Thompson, a professor and marine biologist at the University of Plymouth in Plymouth, England. Thompson says he recalls a book about the wonders of the new creation, plastics, that sat on his grandfather's bookshelf when he was just a child.

When plastic first surfaced, he reminds viewers, it was seen as a panacea for many uses, including automobile manufacturing. While he is reminiscing, the documentary plays old TV ads that display how easily plastic products stack and how a dropped plastic plate won't break like resin or ceramic plates.

Plastic in and of itself is not the enemy, says Thompson; the problem is single use plastics, which constitute 40% of the plastics produced. We have been trained to think of plastic as "throwaway and valueless" he says.³

Next the documentary takes viewers to London where, in 2017, crews discovered a 130-ton amalgamation of wet wipes, sanitary products and cooking fat stuck in a sewage pipe, which they called a fatberg.⁴ The fatberg weighed as much as 11 double-decker buses.

Moore interviews a sewer worker who is working underneath the Thames river, who confirms what viewers probably already know: "The only thing that should go down the toilet is paper," he says. He and Moore examine an article that looks like toilet paper but is actually plastic that has not disintegrated and will take hundreds of years to do so.⁵ Plastic waste in the Thames River flows into the sea, says a local cleanup volunteer.

Moore then joins Thompson on a boat with an apparatus to collect microplastics — plastics that have broken down into tiny pieces. There are "one or two pieces of plastic in 1 cubic meter (35.1 cubic feet) of seawater" says Thompson, and that becomes a massive amount of plastic in water bodies. Moreover, the microplastics "open up the potential of ingestion" to a wider amount of fish that would not eat larger plastic pieces, the professor warns.

Visits to the Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland

One of the most heartbreaking aspects of plastic waste is its deadly effect on marine life. Turtles suffocate while trapped in plastic, as the documentary shows, because they can't rise to the surface to breathe. Fish starve to death because the plastic they eat gives them a false sense of satiety. Plastic bags can deceptively resemble jelly fish to marine species that eat them.

When Moore visits Texel, a bird-rich island in the Wadden Sea, off the coast of The Netherlands,⁶ we learn more about plastics’ toll on local wildlife. Moore interviews Jan Van Franeker, a scientist with Wageningen Marine Research, a collaboration between Wageningen University and the Wageningen Research Foundation in Wageningen, Netherlands.^7,8

"The wildlife tells us what we are doing wrong," says Franeker seated in front of a long table of dead birds. They are "suffering from our mistakes." The larger birds ingest larger plastic, says Franeker, holding up an entire toothbrush found in the body of an albatross.

All of the seabirds have "plastic in their stomach,” he says. "It is a disgrace to mankind to find this in animals" he says while examining the dead seabirds, noting that the animals die a slow and agonizing death.

In Belgium, Moore interviews professor Colin Janssen, an ecotoxicologist at Ghent University, about 30 miles from Brussels. Mussels, a mainstay of Belgian cuisine, are showing the effects of marine plastic pollution because of the huge amount of water they filter through their bodies, says Janseen. CT scans reveal the plastic in their tissues.⁹

The plastic is also in the stomachs of humans, adds Moore, and it crosses from our stomachs into our blood system, a phenomenon that is just beginning to be acknowledged. Janssen concurs with Moore about the seriousness of the plastic scourge and says future generations will say "they left us with a rotten plastic legacy."

Next, "A Plastic Tide" visits with an owner of a beautiful bed and breakfast located in Arrochar, Scotland. Despite the picturesque lodge, Cristina Sanchez-Navarro says so much plastic has washed up on the shores near her B-and-B, her guests have asked her, "Why do you have a landfill out there?"

Despite cleanup volunteers, the community is overwhelmed by the plastic pollution problem, she says, and even remote and isolated areas are blighted. Underscoring the crisis, a pet dog is seen with volunteers holding a plastic bottle in his mouth.

The Documentary Ends on a Note of Encouragement

After his visit to European locales, Moore returns to Mumbai and revisits Shah, the activist and beach cleaner we met earlier in the documentary. Flanked with fellow beach cleaners, Shah is now on a beach that is almost unrecognizable. The cleanup has worked. "One day we can swim again," says a volunteer after years of wading through plastic debris.

“How have you motivated the volunteers and achieved such effects?” asks Moore. We "set an example" for others and also educate the public, replies Shah. Moreover, "cleaning up rubbish is addictive," he says, because we volunteers love the ocean. "We are cleaning our hearts."

At the beginning of the documentary, during Moore's first visit to Mumbai, Shah says destroying the habitats of fish and marine life and risking their survival is just wrong. "No species has the right to destroy somebody else's house." Clearly his sentiments and those of cleanup volunteers everywhere are making a difference.

What Can You Do About Plastic Pollution?

While cleanup efforts by volunteers are valuable, each and every one of us has a responsibility to share the burden for putting an end to plastic pollution. Below is a sampling of strategies that can help:

Don't use plastic bags. Opt for reusable bags, especially for groceries

Bring your own mug for a coffee drink, and skip the lid and straw

Instead of buying bottled water, bring water from home in glass water bottles

Make sure the items you recycle are recyclable

Store foods in glass containers or Mason jars, not plastic containers or freezer bags

Bring your own leftovers container when eating out

Avoid processed foods, which are typically sold with plastic wrapping or plastic-lined paper boxes. Buy fresh produce and use vegetable bags brought from home

Request no plastic wrap on your newspaper and dry cleaning

Use nondisposable razors, washable feminine hygiene products, cloth diapers and rags in lieu of paper towels. (Old shirts and socks make great cleaning rags)

Avoid disposable utensils and straws and buy foods in bulk when you can

Buy clothes and other items at secondhand stores. Microfibers found in newer clothing can be as destructive as plastic grocery bags

Buy infant toys and even pet toys made of wood or untreated fabric, not plastic

Just as important as our own behavior, we need to demand a reduction in plastics from the companies that make and sell our food. Thanks to plastic bags, plastic food packaging and bottled beverages, grocery stores and food manufacturers are likely the largest contributors to plastic pollution problem.

They wrap every conceivable item in nonbiodegradable plastic from fresh produce to eggs, fish, bread, cheese and packaged foods. We need to vote with our wallet and simply refuse such practices. Our own conscientious behavior and persuading food purveyors to change their plastic use could go a long way toward reducing plastic waste.

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Unexplained low back pain is incredibly common, affecting about 80% of adults at some point during their lifetimes. In the last three months, more than one-quarter of U.S. adults report that they’ve experienced low back pain, which is the most common cause of job-related disability, according to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).¹

The direct and indirect costs associated with low back pain are immense, reaching $90 billion a year in the U.S. alone.² In most cases, low back pain resolves on its own in a few days or weeks, but sometimes it persists for 12 weeks or more, at which point it’s considered chronic.

It’s estimated that about 20% of those who start out with acute low back pain end up with chronic low back pain, with symptoms persisting at one year.³

While many cases of acute low back pain are due to sprains and strains caused by lifting something heavy, overstretching or twisting in an improper way, general degeneration of the spine that occurs with age can also be a culprit. Further, researchers from Johns Hopkins noted in the journal Nature Communications that 90% of low back pain is nonspecific, meaning it has no apparent cause.⁴

The researchers noted that even in cases of intervertebral disc degeneration, there may be no symptoms, meaning spinal degeneration isn’t always the reason for low back pain. They suggested instead that an overgrowth of nerves into the cartilaginous endplates in the spine could be to blame for many cases of low back pain, and the study they conducted suggests that they’re right.

‘Swiss Cheese Bones’ Blamed for Low Back Pain

The joints in your spine contain a bony vertebrae, spinal disc and cartilage endplates, which act as cushions for the vertebrae.

In a news release, study author Xu Cao, Ph.D., with the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, stated, "The cartilage endplate is the cushion on a seat that makes it more comfortable. But, like similar tissue in knee and hip joints, it succumbs to wear and tear over time.”⁵

The study involved mice aged more than 20 months, which is equivalent to a human age of 70 to 80 years. Samples of the bony end plates were analyzed, revealing that the once-soft cartilaginous tissue had become hard and resembled porous bone with a Swiss-cheese appearance.

In previous research, Cao and colleague revealed that cells called osteoclasts create the “Swiss cheese-like” bony structure where soft, cartilage should be, with the spaces providing room for nerves to penetrate the area. "Cartilage does not typically have nerve and blood vessels. However, when cartilage becomes a porous bony structure with growth of nerve fibers, it could be the source of back pain," Cao said.⁶

In the mice study, osteoclasts and nerve fibers were marked with fluorescent tags, revealing that both could be found near the vertebrae and that osteoclasts could be secreting netrin-1, a signaling molecule, to trigger nerve growth in the area.

The researchers then genetically engineered mice to lack genes for osteoclast formation, and when the mice lacked osteoclasts, they had fewer pain-sensing nerves in the cartilage endplates compared to mice with the osteoclast-forming gene. “These findings suggest that osteoclast-initiated porosity of endplates and sensory innervation are potential therapeutic targets for spinal pain,” the researchers noted.⁷

What Else May Be Causing Your Back Pain?

If you’re experiencing low back pain without an obvious cause, a mechanical cause is likely to blame. Aside from the sprains and strains or intervertebral disc degeneration mentioned earlier, overuse and misuse of the muscles supporting your spine, poor muscle strength and inappropriate posture while sitting, standing and walking are also reasons why you may suffer from lower back pain.

Though it may sound surprising, muscle imbalances can often account for back pain that makes it difficult to perform everyday activities. Your lower back, also called the lumbar region, is a complex structure consisting of vertebra, spinal cord, discs, nerves, ligaments and muscles. Each of these work in concert to achieve pain-free mobility.

Most low back pain occurs in five vertebrae in the lumbar region (L1-L5), which support the weight of your upper body.⁸ When there is an imbalance in any of the musculature supporting your lower back, hips, legs or upper back, it may cause an imbalance in the remainder of the interacting muscles.

For instance, when walking with your toes pointed outward, the muscles in your hips and lower back tighten, increasing your risk for lower back pain. Sitting with your shoulders hunched over a computer screen stretches muscles in your upper back and places added stress on your lower back, increasing your risk for lower back pain.

There’s also some evidence that back pain can be related to negative emotions. The late Dr. John Sarno used mind-body techniques⁹ to treat patients with severe low back pain, as he believed that pain is your brain’s response to unaddressed stress, anger or fear.

In one study that supports the idea that pain can have psychological underpinnings, emotion awareness and expression therapy reduced chronic musculoskeletal pain by at least 30% in two-thirds of patients while one-third of patients improved by 70%.¹⁰

Many Cases of Back Pain Are Mistreated

Many people who see their physician for lower back pain are prescribed opioid painkillers, even though guidelines from the American College of Physicians (ACP) state individuals with lower back pain should first try heat wraps, exercise and other nondrug solutions first, and prescription drugs should only be used as a last resort. Even then, opioids aren’t mentioned among the first-line drug options. According to ACP:¹¹

“Given that most patients with acute or subacute low back pain improve over time regardless of treatment, clinicians and patients should select nonpharmacologic treatment with superficial heat (moderate-quality evidence), massage, acupuncture, or spinal manipulation (low-quality evidence).

If pharmacologic treatment is desired, clinicians and patients should select nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or skeletal muscle relaxants (moderate-quality evidence). (Grade: strong recommendation).”

In fact, this inappropriate treatment approach to back pain is a driving force behind the opioid epidemic, according to Dave Chase, co-founder of Health Rosetta,¹² citing a 2018 JAMA Network Open paper.¹³ The JAMA paper also recommends, “For chronic low back pain, comprehensive care should ideally include exercise, physical therapy, behavioral therapy, and, in some cases, complementary and alternative medicine.”¹⁴

Strengthening and Realigning Your Body Posture for Back Pain

Eric Goodman, a chiropractor and pioneer in the world of structural biomechanics, is the creator of Foundation Training, a highly effective protocol for back pain. Foundation Training focuses on body weight exercises that integrate as many muscles as possible to strengthen and elongate your core and posterior chain — which includes all the muscles that connect to your pelvis — thereby alleviating many chronic pain issues.

Goodman himself once suffered from severe low back pain, and he wasn’t satisfied with his doctors’ conventional approach to treatment — surgery. Instead of surgery, he sought out a long-term solution by studying anatomy, alignment and exercise, which resulted in Foundation Training.

The program trains the muscle chain in your shoulders, back, butt and legs, such that it takes the burden of support away from your joints. Once your large muscle groups are providing the support your body needs, your back pain will likely dissipate.

Goodman’s program is detailed in his book, "True to Form: How to Use Foundation Training for Sustained Pain Relief and Everyday Fitness,”¹⁵ but there are also a number of free videos on his website at FoundationTraining.com. Correcting your posture is also part of the process, and once your muscles become more properly aligned and stabilized, your posture will follow suit.

Compression breathing is another component, which involves re-educating the muscles surrounding your axial skeleton, the spine of your rib cage, teaching them to be in a state of expansion rather than contraction. You'll find a demonstration of this technique in the video below, but here’s a quick summary of the process:

Two-Minute Exercise for Back Pain

In the video at the top of this page, you will find demonstrations of Foundation Training exercises, which incorporate as many muscles into a given movement as possible, dispersing more force throughout your body, taking friction away from your joints and putting that tension into your muscles instead.

In addition to using compression breathing, you’ll want to perform the exercises barefoot and, ideally, walk barefoot as often as you can. With your shoes off, pay attention to pushing your feet into the ground.

Most people have weak feet with poor grip strength. Think of your feet as anchors for your entire body in a sea of gravity. So, push back against gravity. Stand as big, broad and as tall as you can. Try to really grab the ground with your feet by activating your arches, toes and ankles.

According to Goodman, most people will notice a difference in their body within a week or two. Within three weeks, you should notice profound differences, provided you’re doing the exercises five to 10 minutes every single day. You don’t need to worry about recovery here, as you’re not exercising your muscles to failure, where you’re breaking down microfibrils in your muscles that would need time to repair.

It’s recommended that you use a variety of Foundation Training exercises to reinforce proper movement in your body. However, if you’re struggling with back pain, try this two-minute exercise, which is also demonstrated in the featured video. For acute back pain, Goodman recommends doing this exercise as much as 10 to 20 times a day. Hold each position for 10 to 20 seconds.

1. Stand feet shoulder-width apart, facing a chair. Lightly squat, pushing your buttocks back, keeping your back straight. Place the fingertips of your hands on the front edge of seat of the chair.
2. With your knees slightly bent, the weight on your heels, walk your fingertips across the seat, away from you as you push your hips back.
3. Once you’ve reached the limit of your stretch, lift your torso, extending your lower spine, and push your hands out behind you to widen your chest as much as possible. Be sure to squeeze your shoulder blades together.
4. Shift your arms forward, as high as you can overhead, thumbs pointing inward toward each other, while pushing your buttocks out, lengthening through your back. This will intensify the pressure in your back. Engage the hamstrings by lightly squeezing your knees together and straightening your legs ever so slightly.
5. Slowly stand up, lowering your arms as you raise your torso.

Beyond exercise, be sure to look through these additional tips to beat back pain, which include everything from sleep position and vitamins to grounding and massage therapy. For many, a comprehensive plan works best to achieve long-term back pain relief.

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An innovative -- and inexpensive -- technique targets mosquito larvae where they live.

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A new study of molecular interactions central to the functioning of biological clocks explains how certain mutations can shorten clock timing, making some people extreme 'morning larks' because their internal clocks operate on a 20-hour cycle instead of being synchronized with the 24-hour cycle of day and night. Researchers found that the same molecular switch mechanism affected by these mutations is at work in animals ranging from fruit flies to people.

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A common variation in a human gene that affects the brain's reward processing circuit increases vulnerability to the rewarding effects of the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis in adolescent females, but not males, according to preclinical research. As adolescence represents a highly sensitive period of brain development with the highest risk for initiating cannabis use, these findings in mice have important implications for understanding the influence of genetics on cannabis dependence in humans.

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Biomedical engineers have demonstrated that, despite significant advancements in protection from ballistics and blunt impacts, modern military helmets are no better at protecting from shock waves than their World War I counterparts. One model in particular, the French Adrian helmet, actually performed better than modern designs. The research could help improve the blast protection of future helmets through choosing different materials, layering multiple materials of different acoustic impedance, or altering their geometry.

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The coronavirus probably has a stronger ability to spread than the World Health Organization has estimated so far. This according to a review of previous studies of the coronavirus' transmissibility.

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What clues does our memory use to connect a current situation to a situation from the past? The researchers have demonstrated that similarities in structure and essence guide our recollections rather than surface similarities. It is only when individuals lack sufficient knowledge that they turn to the surface clues to recollect a situation. These results are relevant in the field of education. They underline the need to focus on the conceptual aspects of situations.

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Researchers have developed a ''smart'' diaper embedded with a moisture sensor that can alert a caregiver when a diaper is wet. When the sensor detects dampness in the diaper, it sends a signal to a nearby receiver, which in turn can send a notification to a smartphone or computer.

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Researchers use new method to investigate neural oscillations.

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Investigators show that early exposure to a carbohydrate found in breast milk, called 2'FL, positively influences neurodevelopment.

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Economists and business leaders agree that innovation is a major force behind economic growth, but many disagree on what is the best way to encourage workers to produce the 'think-outside-of-the-box' ideas that create newer and better products and services. New research indicates that competitive 'winner-takes-all' pay structures are most effective in getting the creative juices flowing that help fuel economic growth.

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Monash University researchers have uncovered a key way that hookworms evade the immune system - providing new hope in the search for a vaccine.

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Researchers have developed the first truly accurate mouse model of celiac disease. The animals have the same genetic and immune system characteristics as humans who develop celiac after eating gluten. This provides a vital research tool for developing and testing new treatments for the disease.

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Researchers have developed the first truly accurate mouse model of celiac disease. The animals have the same genetic and immune system characteristics as humans who develop celiac after eating gluten. This provides a vital research tool for developing and testing new treatments for the disease.

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Loss of an important tumor-suppressing gene allows head and neck cancer to spin off signals to nearby nerves, changing their function and recruiting them to the tumor, where they fuel growth and cancer progress.

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Scientists have found that even a few hours' exposure to ambient ultrafine particles common in air pollution may potentially trigger a nonfatal heart attack.

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Researchers report the biological effects of influenza protein NS1 binding to RIG-I -- the binding directly quiets the alarm that activates the cellular innate immunity defense against the infection. This is a newly described way for flu to antagonize the host cellular antiviral response.

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Breakthrough cellular genomics technology has allowed researchers to reveal genetic mutations causing rogue behavior in the cells that cause autoimmune disease.

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You notice your loved one becoming more forgetful. She cannot recall her visit with her granddaughters yesterday. She claims she took her medications this morning, yet you find them untouched in her pill case. You wonder how this mild-mannered woman has become so angry, so quickly. She is often frightened now, disoriented, and unpredictable. Yet she still remembers every detail of your wedding day, the names of your four children, and how to play her favorite piano pieces. When you sing together, time temporarily stands still.

Your loved one received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Nights are the hardest time for her. You worry about her safety when she wanders through the house. She almost broke the door last week; you can tell her arm still hurts when you bathe her. She resists and yells at you when you take her to the bathroom. She has started to show behavioral symptoms of dementia.

Aggression and agitation in dementia

Behavioral and psychological symptoms are very common in dementia, and affect up to 90% of people living with dementia. In addition to memory changes, people with dementia may experience agitation, psychosis, anxiety, depression, and apathy. These behavioral symptoms often lead to greater distress than memory changes.

When people with dementia become agitated or aggressive, doctors often prescribe medications to control their behaviors in spite of the known risks of serious side effects. The most frequently prescribed medication classes for agitation in dementia carry serious risks of falls, heart problems, stroke, and even death.

Caregivers, who often experience burnout in managing aggressive behaviors, welcome medications that can temporarily decrease agitation. Unfortunately, aggressive and agitated behavior often contributes to the decision to transition a loved one to an alternative living situation.

New research shows that nondrug therapies are more effective

According to a new study looking at more than 160 articles, nondrug interventions appeared to be more effective than medications in reducing agitation and aggression in people with dementia. Researchers found that three nonpharmacologic interventions were more effective than usual care: multidisciplinary care, massage and touch therapy, and music combined with massage and touch therapy.

For physical aggression, outdoor activities were more efficacious than antipsychotic medications (a class of drugs often prescribed to manage aggression). For verbal aggression, massage and touch therapy were more effective than care as usual. As a result of this study, the authors recommend prioritization of nonpharmacologic interventions over medications, a treatment strategy also recommended by the practice guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association.

Helpful tips for caregivers

To decrease agitation and aggression with dementia, caregivers can help their loved ones in the following ways:

• Find a multidisciplinary team of specialists. This may include a psychiatrist to carefully consider the risks and benefits of medications for managing behavior, a geriatrician to optimize your loved one’s medical situations, and an occupational therapist to consider modifications of a person’s living environment and daily routine.
• Go for a walk or on an outing for a change of scenery. Physical activity has additional benefits on mood, memory, and lowering anxiety.
• Add massage and touch therapy, or just provide a calming hand massage.
• Incorporate music into your loved one’s daily routine.
• Notice the first signs of agitation. Nondrug options work best the earlier they are used.
• Get creative: discover what works and try using different senses. Aromatherapy, an activity such as folding (and refolding) laundry, brushing hair, or dancing can all be calming.
• Consult with your physicians. Medications are often prescribed as first-line interventions despite what we know about the effectiveness of nondrug options.
• Educate all the people caring for your loved one on the interventions that work best, and check in with them about how these approaches are working.

The bottom line

To decrease agitation and aggression in people with dementia, nondrug options are more effective than medications. Physical activity, touch and massage, and music can all be used as tools to manage agitation related to dementia.

The post What’s the best way to manage agitation related to dementia? appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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