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What Stress is Doing to Your Health

A stress is any stimulus that requires your body to respond or adapt. Although in certain situations stress can be good (resulting in improved focus and performance) living with chronic stress can lead to a multitude of health problems ranging from anxiety and depression to cancer and  heart disease. Today we are succumbing to stress at an accelerated rate- not just because we have more of it- but also because we can handle so much less.

There are three types of stresses:  environmental, physical and  emotional. When your body perceives a stress, your nervous system responds. Known as the“fight or flight” response, the sympathetic nervous system becomes stimulated-resulting in increased heart rate, increased blood flow to the extremities, increased blood pressure and better vision. Stress hormones, such as adrenalin and cortisol are released by the adrenal glands, all of which prepare the body to fight or flee the danger by increasing muscle strength, stamina and heightening the senses. Continue reading “What Stress is Doing to Your Health”

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How to Maintain Your Adjustment

The end goal of chiropractic care (at least in our office) is to retrain the spine to maintain its proper position so that the body can naturally heal and adapt to any problems that may occur in everyday life. This is why when you first begin chiropractic care, you will likely have to visit on a fairly frequent basis, but over time, your visits should occur less often and adjustments will likely be quite minor. This is a good thing. It means that your spine is, in fact, learning to retain its proper shape and position.

However, like any healthcare initiatives, caring for your adjustment is not just your chiropractor’s job. The patient needs to take responsibility and do what they can to maintain the adjustments they receive. Doing so will help expedite the spine’s retraining process, but it’s also just good practice for your body. After all, a backbone and spinal cord that are in the proper position provide optimal performance for your entire body, enabling you to live a healthy, happy, pain-free and productive lifestyle.

So what can you do to help maintain a chiropractic adjustment? Continue reading “How to Maintain Your Adjustment”

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Why It’s More Than a Back “Crack”

I must admit I cringe a bit every time I introduce myself as a Chiropractor and someone says “I love getting my back cracked”. The reason it is so disappointing is that “joint mobilization” (aka cracking) is the most insignificant part of what we do. In fact the only reason that anyone should receive a chiropractic adjustment is if there is pressure on their nerve system. Why? Because the nervous system controls and coordinates every aspect of your body. The millions of messages are transported from your brain down your spine, out to your organs, tissues and cells. The purpose of a chiropractic adjustment is to clear any interference in that pathway.

Just this month, we have had reports of an infertile couple conceiving, depression lifting, pain killers being thrown out, better sleep, numbness and tingling gone, sinus infections eliminated, improved digestion and better breathing. This doesn’t happen by “cracking a back”. This only happens when pressure comes off the central nervous system and the body begins to heal itself. Continue reading “Why It’s More Than a Back “Crack””
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The Truth About Sunscreen

While we know that sunscreens prevent sunburns, beyond that simple fact surprisingly little is known about their safety and efficacy. The letters SPF mean “sun protection factor” and refer only to protection against UVB radiation, which burns the skin. It has nothing to do with UVA radiation that penetrates deep into the skin, accelerates skin aging and may cause skin cancer. 

It’s also important to note that no SPF (not even 100 SPF) offers 100 percent protection. The difference in UVB protection between an SPF 100 and SPF 50 is marginal (SPF 100 blocks 99 percent of UVB rays, while SPF 50 blocks 98 percent). A sunscreen’s SPF number is calculated by comparing the time needed for a person to burn unprotected with how long it takes for that person to burn wearing sunscreen. So a person who turns red after 20 minutes of unprotected sun exposure is theoretically protected 15 times longer if they adequately apply SPF 15. 

So, what’s the problem with sunscreen? As a society we have been taught to avoid the sun -which helps our bodies naturally produce Vitamin D- and instead put chemical laden lotions on in hopes of reducing one type of cancer (skin) that is not commonly fatal. As a result, Americans are now vitamin D deficient which can lead to a multitude of health problems. Continue reading “The Truth About Sunscreen”

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How to Breathe

What could be more natural than breathing? It may sound surprising, but most people don’t know how to breathe – which is a shame because proper breathing can do wonders for stress and digestion. Not only that, but breathing incorrectly can produce tension and lead to exhaustion.

The truth (unfortunately) is that most of us are shallow breathers. This is a problem because shallow breathing leads to poor oxygenation of our blood (breathing oxygenates every cell of our body). Poor oxygenation means that our body is not able to function optimally – everything from our muscles to our metabolism. Therefore, the easiest way to get more oxygen into your body and in every cell of your body is… to breathe properly! Proper breathing dramatically increases exercise endurance and mental clarity, elevates your mood, and helps the body detoxify more efficiently. Continue reading “How to Breathe”