It is a known fact that gratitude leads to health benefits.  Better sleep.  Less depression.  It even leads to a better immune system and less inflammation.  As the book of Proverbs says, “A joyful heart is good medicine.”  Inspite of the benefits of gratitude, however, it is not something well practiced.  We are not very good at saying thank you, or even thinking it.  Less than half of men and only slightly more than half of women regularly express any gratefulness on a regular basis.  According to Janice Kaplan, the  author of “The Gratitude Diaries”, the least grateful are those between the ages of 18-24.  But though hopefully one grows more grateful as one gets older, overall we are an ungrateful society, no matter our age.

A few years ago, in an effort to battle some depression, I read a book that encouraged me to begin a list of items for which I was thankful.  I have forgotten the name of the book, but as I remember I was to start with a basic list of a few items and add to it each day.  After the first few days when I listed the most obvious choices, I had to really think about what I could add.  It really was therapeutically amazing!!  I came up with so many things.  I was so blessed.  What I remember the most, was that many of the things I was thankful for were things I had been taking for granted.  The colors in a sunset or a warm breeze.  The beauty of a flower.  The song of a bird.  Once I started looking for things, I found them.  I had just been missing them even though they had been there all along.

I have never forgotten the lesson that book taught me.  Even today, I find it is fun to sit and see what I can come up with.  Take for instance the ability to smell or taste food.  Often we just breeze through a meal and in a few hours have forgotten what we have eaten.  But in slowing down and savoring you notice so much more.  Can you sort out the different spices in a good chili or appreciate the  texture of a really smooth custard?  Think of the genius that designed us.  How can we distinguish such differences.?  It is amazing to think that we can differentiate between tens of thousands of different smells, sometimes detecting a compound, in wine for instance, at a single part per trillion!  Of course we should be thankful for such ability.  Instead of being grateful, however, I find that I am much more likely to complain over the smell of sweaty socks than I am to appreciate the lavender in the wash that makes them smell fresh.

The weather is turning cold!   Winter can be a bit of a downer to some of us.  My prescription for a pick me up on a cold afternoon is ….TEA! There are a lot of health benefits available from cozying up to a cup of tea.  Of course, in the United States, coffee is still the beverage of choice when a little caffeine is needed.  Worldwide, however, tea is consumed at a rate 3 times that of coffee.  And even in the United States we are increasing our consumption of tea.  Most of us seem to prefer black tea (87%) but about 12.5% drink green tea.

Some of the benefits from tea, besides the sheer comfort of a hot drink, come from the caffeine it contains.  Research currently says that consuming up to 400 mg of caffeine daily is safe for most adults.  It can increase mental alertness, of course, but it also has been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimers disease.  It is important to remember, though, that too much of a good thing can cause some unwanted side effects such as headache, tremor, insomnia and anxiety.

And be careful what you put in your tea!  Adding a lot of sugar or cream may negate the  positive effects.  Definitely avoid nondairy creamers, as they often contain trans fat which you need to avoid at all costs!

If you have not gotten your flu shot yet, it’s time. There are a long list of excuses that I have heard from patients over the years, but those who forgo the shot and get the flu are ALWAYS sorry. I am such a believer in the wisdom of taking the flu shot that one year, when my kids were little and did not want it, I told them they had to get it in order to have dinner! I knew that the momentary pain would possibly save them from worse pain down the road.

So here are the stats. In the United States, about 36,000 people still die from influenza yearly. Worldwide that number goes up a lot, as influenza kills from 250,000 to 500,000 people each year. Many more are hospitalized with serious illness but survive.

And it is not just for yourself that you should get immunized. You do not want to be the one to give it to someone else. This is especially true if you are around elderly or immune deficient people. In addition, if enough of us get immunized, there may end up being a kind of “herd immunity” developed in the community.

The injectable flu vaccine contains nothing live and therefore it is impossible to get the flu from the vaccine. (it is not recommended to get the nasal vaccine which is a live vaccine) It is safe to get the injectable vaccine even if you are pregnant. There just isn’t much downside. And since it is impossible to predict the severity of a flu season, why not take precaution? If there were other killers that you knew would kill over 700 people in your state this year, you would do what you could to avoid them.

I think America fears the wrong things.  Today’s news is full of rhetoric about Russian influence and assaults against democracy.  Through words and free speech, no less!  It is not Russian influence through Facebook ads and posts that will destroy us.  If we fall, it will be because our citizens no longer are able to think for themselves.  It will be because we are too easily swayed.  It will be because truth and character have eroded to the point that we can no longer discern truth from error or right from wrong.  It will be because the foundation upon which we once stood is shaken and soft.

Perhaps that is true.  We overlook all sorts of terrible character flaws in our leaders.     It is very naive to believe that how someone conducts themselves in private does not affect how or where they will lead us.  How can we honestly believe that someone who lies to their own family would honestly serve the public?  And why do we believe them when they promise what we know they cannot and will not deliver?

America needs to go back to its roots.  Our leaders need to be held to a higher standard!  Our journalists need to pursue truth over profit!  We need to examine our own lives and aim to live nobly.  We need to vote based on character.  We need to vote also with our feet and our wallets.  We need to try to understand each other.  We need to care for each other even when we don’t understand.

We need to  strengthen the foundation of American and then we will not need to be afraid.  We will not be so easily undermined.  No country with a solid foundation and belief in love, hope, and truth need fear influence from any false rhetoric….from Russia or anywhere else!