Avoid Holiday Stress!

Plan ahead so the pressure of the holidays doesn't make you blow your top!

It's not too early to plan ahead if you want stress-free holidays this year! For many people, holidays aren't relaxing at all and mean lots of extra things to do which creates lots of extra S-T-R-E-S-S! Here are some suggestions to help you manage stress around the end-of-the-year celebrations and relax so that you, and those around you, can enjoy festivities:

1. Set realistic expectations: Don't expect that this will be the year that everyone comes together and gets along if it hasn't happened in the past 10 years! We tend to imagine the holiday we long for, and forget that may be an unachievable dream.

2. Accept your limitations: You cannot be all things to all people so stop trying. Know when to say "no."

3. Take extra special care of yourself: Maintain balance in your eating, sleeping, drinking, and exercise habits. Do something you like, just for you!

4. Find some time to help others: Volunteer in a nursing home, food pantry or hospital and bring some holiday cheer to someone less fortunate. Brighten someone's day when they least expect it with a "random act of kindness."

5. Create healthy traditions for your family: Read a new book, go caroling, see a new holiday movie, anything that involves spending quality time with your loved ones.

6. Focus on the spiritual, rather than material: Remember the reason why we celebrate the holidays in the first place and focus less on all the glitz and the trappings.

7. Stay out of family arguments: Or better yet, try to be the peacemaker and listen without being judgmental. Practice effective communication—listening.

8. Watch frivolous spending: Don't try to outdo other family members with expensive gifts that you will have to pay for later. Better yet – make a gift that comes from your heart!

9. Remember you cannot change other people: You are the only person you can change. If you don't like what someone is doing, create space between you and that person.

10. Have fun: It can be affirming to be surrounded by family. Enjoy it.

How To Catch a Cold

Want to catch a cold? Follow these easy steps!

Some people seem to expect a bout with a cold or the flu each year. If you haven't had your quota yet, here are some things you can do:

1. Eat a poor diet. If you want to catch a cold, make sure your body lacks the vitamins and minerals it needs to keep itself in good repair. Eat lots of processed foods, stripped of their nutritional value. Avoid fresh vegetables and ingest lots of high-fat snack foods.

2. Avoid adequate rest. After neglecting the quality of the raw materials your body needs to repair itself, deprive yourself of adequate rest. Stay up late and reduce the time you sleep as much as possible. Use tobacco, coffee and other stimulants to fool yourself into thinking you have plenty of energy.

3. Stop exercising. To catch a cold, make sure you reduce the effectiveness of your immune and lymphatic systems. Unlike the circulatory system with its pump (the heart), your lymphatic system depends upon exercise and physical movement to circulate these valuable fluids with their germ-fighting abilities.

4. Rarely wash your hands. Increase your chances of catching a cold by compromising your personal hygiene. Remember to use your dirty hands and fingers to rub your eyes, pick your nose or wipe your lips.

5. Think negative thoughts. Look for opportunities to imagine having a cold. Pay attention to news reports about outbreaks of the flu and pay close attention to TV commercials from drug companies that sell products designed for cold sufferers.

6. Invite stress. Stress yourself physically by experiencing extreme temperature and humidity changes. Stress yourself mentally with constant worry or fear. Stress yourself socially by encountering as many ill people as possible.

7. Become dehydrated. Avoid drinking enough water. Reduce the effectiveness of your immune system and other bodily functions by drinking water-removing diuretics such as caffienated beverages, coffee, tea and alcohol.

8. Forget your chiropractic appointments. Ignore the role of a properly operating nervous system, the master control of your immune system. Avoid all preventive strategies and shun our suggestions of periodic visits to help you stay well.

Of course we're joking! The only way to catch a cold or the flu is to make yourself a hospitable host to the millions of cold and flu germs around you every day. Include regular chiropractic care to keep you working at your very best so cold and flu germs aren't made to feel welcome in your body!

Allergic to Stress

There's a good chance the pollen isn't to blame for your allergies.

We often think that stress affects us only in a psychological or emotional sense, so much so that we overlook the physical effects of stress that can be both progressive and debilitating. But stress can trigger headaches, hair loss, irregular heartbeat, sleep troubles, neck and back pain, asthma and even allergies.

Many recent studies have confirmed what researchers have long believed, that psychological stresses can aggravate allergy symptoms. Gailen D. Marshall, MD, PhD, Director of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, and his colleagues conducted a study that concluded that stress increased the occurrence of asthma and allergies in a group of subjects who were taking their medical school exams.

Your nervous system constantly filters data and decides how your body should react to stressors. In response, your body produces different hormones and neurotransmitters, such as adrenalin, that affect the immune system. When your body is constantly reacting to stress, it creates an imbalance in your body. If it persists, it can have detrimental effects that cause or aggravate certain conditions, including allergies.

This is why regular nervous system checkups are so important. When your spine is working correctly, your central nervous system and immune system operate the way they were designed, improving your ability to withstand stress.

Remember, it’s not the pollen. It’s not the pet dander. And it’s not “allergy season.” It’s about how your body responds to these potential allergens. Antihistamines dampen your body’s response. Chiropractic care increases your body’s ability to accommodate the stress.

Which approach makes more sense to you?

Stress and Back Pain

We live in very stressful times. A world-wide economic crisis, declining home values, job losses, financial insecurities, an uncertain future… these and other “real life” events cause a lot of people a lot of stress. And that stress is responsible for all types of health problems, including high blood pressure, strokes, insomnia and an increase in the number of people experiencing back pain.

Chronic stress (emotional, physical and chemical) can affect your nervous system’s ability to function correctly, leading to an increased risk for illness and pain. And… when you’re under stress, your muscles get tense and tighten, especially the muscles in your neck and back.

So what can you do about stress-related back pain?

• Learn how to relax muscles through stretching, take “stretch” breaks at work, walk around your building during break or lunch

• Exercise to release stress and endorphins, those “feel good” brain chemicals – brisk walking, cycling, swimming – anything that increases your heart rate and gets you moving is beneficial

• Eat healthy meals – avoid empty calories, sugary snacks and comfort foods that pack on the weight and offer little in terms of nutrition

• Write down your thoughts or talk to a professional counselor – getting the stress out, on paper or in person, helps to relieve stress

• Treat yourself to a massage to ease tense muscles

• Learn to say “no” to anything that will further complicate your life, causing additional stress

• Get plenty of rest – it’s hard to deal with the stress that causes chronic back pain when you’re not well rested

And by all means, make sure you’re staying up to date with your chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractic care helps to “reset” the nervous system so you are better able to fight the negative effects of stress. We certainly see an increase in stress-related back pain as a result of these uncertain times. We want to help you to weather these times, feeling healthy and pain free, so you can deal with whatever comes your way.

More Aspirin, Anyone?

Aspirin, like other NSAIDS, only temporarily masks painful symptoms!

They can be found in just about every medicine cabinet. Millions take them without a second thought. One a day is being recommended to prevent heart attacks! What are they? They are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

You may know these drugs, available without a prescription, by many different names. As a practice interested in natural health care solutions, we see two concerns that some of our patients overlook.

The first danger is from the adverse reactions to these drugs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that about 75,000 people each year in the U.S. visit hospitals due to adverse reactions to these convenient, over-the-counter drugs. About 10% of those die. That may seem like a small danger for the convenient relief NSAIDs offer, unless you or a family member become a statistic!

We think an even greater danger is the philosophical implication of taking these drugs. Aches or pains that prompt their use are warning signs. Like flashing lights that we see when driving, warning signs are to be taken seriously. They protect us. They serve a purpose. Popping a couple of pills to silence our body's cry for change shows a profound disrespect for this miraculous, self-healing body we live in!

Worse, using NSAIDs often reflects the belief that being healthy is about how you feel. But numbing the "alarm bells" your body is sending doesn't make you healthy. You may fool your body but you're not fooling your children. What do you teach them when you take drugs to "feel better" or to make the pain of everyday living go away? How will you explain the difference between a "good" drug and a "bad" drug?

NSAIDs may be convenient. They may save time. They may even allow you to ignore your body for awhile. But there is a price to be paid. Maybe not with stomach bleeding, liver damage or some other side effect. But a price, nonetheless.

Instead of reaching into the medicine cabinet, reach for the phone and call us:(423) 954-9591. Let us find the underlying cause and reduce it with a program of safe and natural chiropractic adjustments that honor the wisdom of your body.

Healthy Habits

Use these 16 suggestions to not only help you get well, but stay well:

1. Ask Questions – understand your health problem and get better results...

2. Keep Your Appointments – each visit builds on the ones before...

3. Get Moving – exercise as you are able; you’re designed to move...

4. Therapeutic Massage – Massage and chiropractic work well together.

5. Better Nutrition – You’ll heal better with the right raw materials.

6. Drink More Water – You’re mostly water. Make sure you get enough.

7. Restful Sleep – Get plenty of sleep so your body can make repairs.

8. Less Coffee – Caffeine, like other drugs, affects your nervous system.

9. Stop Smoking – The health risks are clear. It’s never too late to quit.

10. Moderate Alcohol – Drink in moderation and enjoy the health benefits.

11. Give Up Softdrink – It’s a common culprit linked to many health problems.

12. Proper Weight – Slim down to the correct weight for your height.

13. Limit Media Use – Television watching is unhealthy on many levels.

14. Reduce Stress – Emotional stress underlies many health problems.

15. Spiritual Health – True healing occurs by connecting to a higher power.

16. Remain Hopeful – It takes time. We’re optimistic. You should be too.

Why Fix it if it's Not Broken?

Many health problems fester without serious symptoms, making correction more difficult later.

This is the “Let sleeping dogs lie” approach to health care! I feel fine. Why do I need to see a doctor?

That’s the problem with the lifestyle-induced health problems facing our culture. They quietly fester in the background, slowly worsening, often without any obvious symptom. Arterial plaque builds up. Blood pressure rises. Certain foods now cause heartburn. Every morning you get out of bed a little bit slower and stiffer. You hardly notice the incremental change.

Ironically, these are often the same folks who religiously change their oil and do other preventive maintenance to lengthen the life, appearance and performance of their car!

If you like being your very best, you’ll love visiting our practice. No shots. No yucky medicine. No “healthier-than-thou” attitude. No preaching.