Monday, June 15, 2009

YOUR SPINAL IQ

Your IQ that's measured in school has to do with problem solving - mental gymnastics. Your spinal IQ also has to do with problem solving - these are "problems" of the physical kind.How far to bend over to lift those grocery bags out of your car's trunk? How much muscle force is necessary to pick up and carry your five-year-old child? What specific muscles are needed to maintain your "downward dog" position for 30 seconds in yoga class? How far can your back muscles stretch when you do a back bend at the ballet barre? These are the problems your spinal IQ tries to solve.Spinal IQ is an inborn ability. Our bodies were designed for the rigors of physical work - they are very smart and very adaptable. One of our built-in control systems is the specialized set of nerve endings known as proprioceptors.Proprioception is our internal awareness of position in three-dimensional space. This three-dimensional positioning allows us to keep our balance when we walk or run. Proprioception tells our muscles and joints how to work together to throw a baseball from third to first, to drive to the basketball hoop and sink a lay-up, or to hit a tennis ball to the corner of the opponent's service box and win the point.Proprioception is very important in spinal IQ. The spine is a complex system of bones, joints, muscles, and ligaments - a smart proprioception system helps all the parts work together smoothly and seamlessly.To keep all the parts functioning we need to take an active role. In modern society, if we're not proactive, it's easy for our bodies to break down. Two key strategies for maintaining high levels of spinal IQ are regular strenuous exercise and regular chiropractic check-ups.Exercise helps our bodies stay smart. When we exercise, our joints are mechanically stressed and challenged throughout their complete ranges of motion. This activity stimulates proprioceptors - training them to do their job well and building new and stronger connections between nerve cells. Exercise also builds muscle strength and flexibility, and in the process the muscles are getting smarter, too.Chiropractic care enhances the benefits of your exercise program by helping ensure optimal functioning of your spine and nerve system. With regular chiropractic care, your proprioceptive system is optimized and your body's ability to adapt to physical challenges is restored.Your chiropractor will be glad to assist you in designed an exercise program that will work for you, helping you to improve your spinal IQ and your health.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

GETTING A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP

Ensuring Restful Sleep - Positive Self-Talk
A great way to establish the habit of restful sleep is to quietly talk to yourself a little before falling asleep. In essence you're talking directly to your subconscious mind, and the instructions you give your subconscious can go far toward ensuring a good night's sleep and a successful day tomorrow.
Positive self-talk has been championed by renowned plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz in his world-famous book, Psycho-Cybernetics, and by many leaders in the field of human peak performance, including Earl Nightingale, Napoleon Hill, and Norman Vincent Peale.You can say things like:
I sleep through the night. I sleep deeply and well.
I wake up relaxed, refreshed, restored, renewed, revived.
I will have a great day tomorrow. I'll meet the right people and speak with the right people. Everything goes my way.
I am healthy and well. I am healthy and well.
Give thanks for your wonderful family, friends, and job or career.You'll notice, after a few nights of brief, quiet positive self-talk, that you're falling asleep quicker and that your days are becoming much easier, much more enjoyable. Things are flowing your way. It's quite remarkable.Americans spend more than $2 billion each year on sleep-aiding medications. Sleep is supposed to be a natural process. What's going on? There are many issues in the way of getting a good night's sleep. Daily stresses - work problems, financial difficulties, family challenges - can all keep a person up at night. We rehash what was said over and over again, or we endlessly review the problems confronting us, creating more anxiety and worry while the minutes and maybe even hours tick away.Eating late at night - particularly fat-filled foods and snacks - may also interfere with a person's ability to fall asleep and sleep restfully. Late night meals engage all the resources of your digestive system - your body is actually doing a lot of work when it's supposed to be resting. Not good. And, of course, a lot of this late night food is stored as fat, creating additional problems.Not enough exercise also contributes to lack of restful sleep. When you're doing vigorous physical work, your body needs to recover. Sleep allows your body to repair and rebuild, getting stronger in the process. Regardless of one's stresses and worries, vigorous exercise makes a physical demand on your body that will put you right to sleep.If you're not exercising regularly, this strong physiologic need for deep rest is missing, and you'll likely be tossing and turning the night away.Old, soft, lumpy mattresses are another potential sleep-disturber. But too-firm mattresses may also cause problems. A good mattress is supportive and comfortable - it "gives" in all the right places and provides a balanced, springy platform for a restful night's sleep. The solutions are straightforward and none of them involve medication. Regular exercise is the key ingredient. With consistent exercise, your body's need for sleep will win out over your conscious mind's automatic mechanism of repeatedly processing the day's events.Chiropractic care may be another key ingredient. Gentle chiropractic treatment ensures that all your body's systems are talking to each other and the right messages are getting through. Chiropractic treatment ensures clear communication from one body system to another. Late at night, systems shut down when they're supposed to and the resultis a good night's sleep. Your chiropractor will be glad to provide you with important information on customized exercise and nutrition programs that will help you continue to be healthy and well.

Lowering the Risk Factors of Obesity, Diabetes, and Heart Disease

Lowering the Risk Factors
Diabetes is a dangerous health problem. In adults, diabetes is often a result of long-term nutritional neglect and abuse. Most of us don't eat breakfast. Our fuel supply is very low, and we wind up running on fumes. We grab a high-calorie muffin or a candy bar later in the morning when we're really, really hungry. What we don't know is that this snack causes insulin to dump out of the pancreas into the bloodstream, as the body attempts to process the surge in blood glucose from the snack we just ate. This pattern is repeated throughout the day. A graph of the average person's blood sugar levels would show sharp spikes - both highs and lows - in every 24-hour period. Eventually, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas wear out. The result is consistently high levels of blood glucose which is called diabetes. Diabetes may cause severe eye problems, severe kidney problems, and severe circulatory problems. It is associated with obesity, heart disease, and increased mortality. Not good. An obvious preventive strategy would be to ensure that blood glucose levels are steady throughout the day. Actually, this is easy to do. All that's required is to develop healthy eating habits and do regular exercise.
Eat breakfast - a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese mixed with a 6-ounce cup of yogurt is all you need.
Do food combining at every meal - always eat a combination of protein and carbohydrate
No between-meal snacks
Regular exercise that is challenging and fun - build-up gradually and be consistentWe're in the middle of several deadly epidemics in the United States. Obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are affecting more and more people every year. Recent statistics show that two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Thirty percent of American children are obese. Approximately 21 million Americans have diabetes. One child out of every 500 has type I diabetes. In America, 72 million adults have high blood pressure. These are shocking statistics, considering that U.S. health care expenditures totaled $2 trillion in 2006. That's 2 TRILLION dollars. As Americans, we're getting less healthy by the day. The good news is there are many things we can do about these trends. There is real action that every American, young and old, can take to support and protect their health and well-being. These action steps all focus on lifestyle - the choices we make each and every day. The first step is an honest self-assessment. When was the last time I exercised? Does my clothes size increase every couple of years? How many times during the week do I eat fast food? When was the last time I ate an apple instead of half a box of cookies? Regardless of the answers, it is possible to become healthy and fit again, whatever your current circumstances. You CAN lose 10 or 20 or 30 or however many pounds. You CAN climb stairs without getting out of breath. You CAN regain the youthful glow of vitality. You CAN be vigorous and proud of your body, rather than worrying about what's going to be the next thing to break down. Healthy eating and regular exercise are essential parts of the solution to combating obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.1,2 These practices have the magical effect of resetting your metabolic clock - your body shifts from a pattern of storing fat to a pattern of burning fat.3 Over time, with a nutritious food plan and consistent exercise, you even burn fat while you're resting! Your body is very smart. You just have to treat it right. Your chiropractor is a wonderful asset - both as a health care practitioner and as a guide - on your journey toward fitness and wellness. Your chiropractor has extensive resources available on practical nutrition and how to design a supportive food plan. He or she has deep knowledge regarding the types of exercises and activities that will be right for you. You and your chiropractor can design an exercise program that will be both fun and rewarding. Working together, you'll be maximizing your health and vitality. You will begin to fulfill a way of living that will support you in being healthy and well for years to come. 1Lindstrom J, et al: Sustained reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes by lifestyle intervention: follow-up of the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study. Lancet 368(9548):1673-1679, 2006. 2Orchard TJ, et al: The effect of metformin and intensive lifestyle intervention on the metabolic syndrome: the Diabetes Prevention Program randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 142(8):611-619, 2005 3Yannakoulia M, et al: A dietary pattern characterized by high consumption of whole-grain cereals and low-fat dairy products and low consumption of refined cereals is positively associated with plasma adiponectin levels in healthy women. Metabolism 57(6):824-830, 2008