Community News
Dentures & Weight Loss

It may come as a surprise to you, but when you lose weight, your clothes are not the only thing that you’ll notice become loose! Your weight loss can affect the fit and suction of your dentures, causing them to be uncomfortable. Weight loss causes changes to your entire body, including your mouth and gums. However, there is a solution: your Denturist can perform a simple procedure called a reline. A reline will “tighten up” your dentures so they fit well, create good suction, and feel comfortable again.

Aromatherapy for Better Sleep

Aromatherapy is often used to relieve stress, but did you know that it can also help with symptoms of sleep disorders? It can be beneficial for insomnia, which sometimes occurs as a result of stress, emotional strain, or psycho-emotional overload. Essential oils such as lavender, ylang ylang, Roman chamomile, bergamot, cedarwood, and marjoram can be used alone or in combination to restore a good night’s sleep. The important thing is that the essential oils be natural and of high quality, since lower-quality and synthetic oils don’t have therapeutic properties and may cause unwanted side effects like allergies and irritation.

Palliative Care Conference

Join Palliative Manitoba at its 30th Annual Provincial Palliative Care Conference, at Canad Inns Destination Center Polo Park. Experience our unique blend of keynotes, educational sessions, and workshops grounded in palliative care. Learn new approaches, successful models and innovations advancing your professional skill set, helping strengthen your organization. Keynotes include, Award-Winning Medical Educator, Writer, Musician and Podcaster, Dr. Jillian Horton. Erin Davis, Author of the book Mourning Has Broken: Love, Loss and Reclaiming Joy. The Waiting Room Revolution Podcasters, Dr. Hsien Seow, and Dr. Samantha Winemaker. Canadian Virtual Hospice will host a multicultural panel sharing stories and wisdom about grief.

Don’t Let Dentures Scare You!

Because dentures have been around for such a long time, they have had centuries to generate stories and myths. These fables and warning stories are sometimes used to scare children into taking better care of their teeth. While some concerns may have been valid in the past, they don’t hold anymore. The quality of modern dentures is continuously improving. After an adjustment period, you can enjoy the benefits of white, straight, and attractive teeth. Also, you can eat, drink, and speak normally, without embarrassment. Dentures are lighter, more natural-looking, and much easier to manage than ever before, giving you confidence and a beautiful smile!

Summer Vitamin D Needs

People tend to soak up more sun in summer, but that doesn’t always mean they’re getting enough vitamin D. Everyone is different, and we all have a number of factors in our lives that affect our ability to produce vitamin D, including things like where we live, what our skin tone is, and how old we are. Our skin doesn’t always reliably convert the sun’s rays into vitamin D, especially if we’re trying to be sun-safe and we cover up with clothing and sunscreen. So, it’s important to keep taking a high-quality vitamin D3 supplement, even in the summer!

How’s Your Sleep Posture?

You spend nearly 1/3 of our lifetime sleeping, making your sleep posture extremely important to your daily wellbeing. Ideally, your head should remain in a neutral position. When side sleeping, if the pillow is too thick or thin, the neck becomes side flexed with one side being compressed while the other side is stretched; this can lead to compressed nerves. “Head forward posture” which is a jutting forward of the chin, is becoming more prominent with increased cell phone usage. Add to that a back sleeper with more than one pillow, the neck muscles are in a constant state of contraction trying to return to their normal length. Being pro-active could save you from a real “pain in the neck” later.

Increasing Bathroom Safety

Bathrooms can be tricky areas to navigate when it comes to safety. Some handy products that can help with bathroom safety include: 1) Shower/bath chair – sitting while showering can help those with balance or strength issues. 2) Shower transfer bench – helps you sit and slide out of the bathtub. 3) Grab bar – helps you support yourself around the room. 4) Bathtub lift – to get in and out of the bathtub safely. 5) Walk-in tub or shower – easy to get in and out of. 6) Handheld showerhead – allows you to move the showerhead instead of yourself while showering.

Meet Your Practitioner

Barbara Balshaw-Dow is a clinical social worker/therapist who received her Master of Social Work in 2007 and has been practicing since 2015. She has a passion for highlighting mental wellness and works with clients who are experiencing anxiety, depression, or trauma, as well as other life challenges. She helps her clients develop strategies to do things differently and move forward by using tools such as: solution-focused questions, strategies from cognitive behavioural therapy, and basic eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. Barbara is also a registered yoga teacher and is working towards certification in equine-assisted counselling.

Balance Your Hormones Naturally

What does hormonal imbalance look like? Hot flashes, night sweats, bloating, irritability, brain fog, irregular cycle, and fatigue are just some of the symptoms. If you suffer from any of these symptoms and haven’t been able to find relief, why not try balancing your hormones naturally. Biofeedback testing and treatment help to detect imbalances and stimulate hormone-producing organs to balance the body. Another effective option is to get your body tested to see if it is lacking specific hormone-related nutrients. If you are, natural nutritional formulations can be taken to correct the hormonal imbalance and relieve your symptoms.

Acupuncture for Post-Partum Depression

Post-partum depression involves depressive symptoms or episodes after giving birth, affecting up to 30% of new mothers. The rates of suicide linked to post-partum depression continue to increase, so it’s important to address any symptoms of the condition as soon as they become apparent. Along with psychological intervention, acupuncture may help with the symptoms of post-partum depression, and some studies have shown that this combination can be as useful as certain anti-depressants. It’s thought that acupuncture helps to stimulate the nervous and immune systems and balance various neurotransmitters, reducing the brain’s reaction to stress and therefore the depressive state.

What’s Your Path to Wellness?

Most of us face health challenges at some point in our lives. As we experience these challenges, we strive to return to wellness but often get overwhelmed with health options or frustrated with advice and approaches that simply don’t work. An Integrative Health Coach helps to sift through wellness options to guide you to the most meaningful health strategies that make sense to you. As your Integrative Health Coach, I draw on a wide knowledge base of diverse healing practices to find the most helpful options that align with your goals and life experiences. What’s your path to wellness?