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June 19, 2017 Written by Elias Markou As a naturopathic doctor, I have been helping firefighters detox their bodies for 15 years. At my practice, I have introduced the use of far infrared sauna therapy to the detoxification program. In the last few months, I have been called upon by a number of fire departments to report on the medical evidence that supports the use of far infrared sauna therapy. Far infrared saunas differ from traditional steam saunas. The traditional sauna is a small, often confining room, with a heat source that raises the immediate air temperature. The skin is...

   Here are the exercises that appear in the video above:   1. Triple squat jump2. Rotational spider jump3. Seesaw elevated lunge4. Lateral lunge to lateral slide5. Miniband skater jump6. Dumbbell pause front squat with Miniband (4 second hold at bottom)7. Shoulders-elevated single-leg hip thrusts with miniband8. Plyo single-leg hip thrust9. Plyo Bulgarian split squat10. Overhead Bulgarian split squat11. Eccentric Bulgarian hip hinge (4 to 5 second descent)12. Mega blast-off pushup13. Fast bear crawl with slow return14. Extreme dumbbell pushup walkout: walkout to T-pushup to pushup row to pushup15. Fat-grip triple crush complex16. Miniband seal jack17. Band pull-apart jack18. Band-resisted...

Did you sleep well last night? If not, you may be at risk for more than just a bad mood. Like good nutrition and exercise, sleep is essential to mental and physical well-being. Chronic lack of sleep impairs performance, contributes to serious health problems, and may even shorten life- span. In an age of increased emphasis on firefighter health and safety, the importance of sleep should not be minimized. Respondents to the National Sleep Foundation's 2002 Sleep in America poll expressed concerns about work schedules for people entrusted with public health and safety. Eighty-two percent agreed that employees should not...

Results from Canada's first national survey looking at operational stress injuries among first responders such as police, paramedics, firefighters and 911 operators suggest they are much more likely to develop a mental disorder than the general population. The research was conducted online between September 2016 and January 2017 by a group of mental health experts from across the country. It is published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Of the 5,813 participants, 44.5 per cent "screened positive for clinically significant symptom clusters consistent with one or more mental disorders." Statistics Canada has reported that the rate for the general population is 10...