Category: Physio

Sleep: Your Secret Weapon for Better Health

Sometimes the most complex questions have the simplest answers. For example, I could ask, “What is one habit that can ease your stress, replenish your energy, improve your health and give your brain a chance to maintain and rehabilitate itself?”

The simple answer would be… get enough sleep. Sleep is often overlooked as a source of vitality, but research shows that adults need at least seven or eight hours of sleep, while children may need ten hours or more each night.

Unfortunately, many people have poor or erratic sleep habits, and they risk paying a serious price – you see, the health of your brain depends on getting enough time when you are not awake for it to do its daily maintenance and keep functioning at peak efficiency.

How does this work? Your brain needs to clean itself out after a day’s work, as you might expect, and the brain doesn’t have the same plumbing as the rest of the body, carrying the waste products away. Your brain is equipped with special cells known as glial cells that take out the trash in your brain.

This cleansing and maintenance happens while you sleep, and takes about seven or eight hours – that’s why seven or eight hours should be your target each night, because your brain will be so much healthier and happier if you do that.

There are many other benefits to getting enough sleep. Sleeping enough boosts your immune system, as when you are well-rested, the demands on your metabolism are less, and more energy can go into body defense.

Getting sufficient sleep also helps you to avoid gaining weight. Depriving yourself of sleep changes your body chemistry – you make more ghrelin, which makes you hungry, and you make less leptin, which tells you you’re full, a bad combination. If you ever find yourself snacking late-night, you’d be better off going to bed and getting extra sleep instead. Those who get less sleep tend toward overweight, as they eat more, have a higher body mass index, and are more likely to be diabetic. Staying up increases your stress and stimulates junk food cravings, so exercise some self-discipline and get to sleep.

Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to circulatory issues like high blood pressure or heart disease. Not sleeping triggers the release of cortisol, the stress hormone that tells your heart to work harder. Your heart needs rest just like your immune system, so sleep is good for your heart.

Sleeping enough improves your concentration, making it easier to focus. This leads to better cognitive function and greater productivity. It improves your mood by decreasing your stress, giving you more energy and helping everything in your body to work better. It improves your memory because your mind defrags itself while you sleep – in other words, it processes and consolidates your thoughts and experiences and stores them in a more efficient way, making them easier to retrieve, giving you more and better memory and mental capacity.

Sleep even makes your exercise and athletic performance better. It improves hand-eye coordination, reaction time and rate of muscle recovery. In fact, it builds strength and power, and enhances your present time consciousness.

How can we get more sleep, and get more out of our sleep? Map out a seven or eight hour slot to sleep each night – if you want to wake up at 7 AM, you need to get to bed before midnight. If you want to get up at 5:30 to meditate or exercise, plan to turn in by 10 or 10:30.

Avoid screen time prior to bedtime – TV, laptops, tablets or cell phones should be out of sight and out of mind before bed. Make sure your bedroom is completely dark and completely silent – if you give your brain a reason to stay awake, it will, and that defeats the purpose of getting to bed on time.

A cool temperature and/or fresh air is a nice option, depending on your personal taste, but seeking the optimal temperature for you will make sleeping more pleasurable. And of course, you need a good mattress and pillows, offering proper support.

Finally, you may want to “empty out” your mind before you try to sleep – have a note pad and pen or a recorder available so you can get any last details of the day or plans for tomorrow out of your mind. Then you can rest without lingering stresses.

People who develop the habit of getting enough sleep are healthier, happier, more productive and less stressed – it’s one of the best things you can do to take care of your brain, and that will help you to enjoy the quality of life you want and deserve.

How Your Brain Helps Your Immune System

Your body is equipped to defend itself against invaders of all kinds – for example, your skin keeps out surface dirt. The hairs in your nose filter our irritants and dust particles. And when there are microorganisms inside of you, most of which are harmless or even helpful, your brain and body work together to make sure that any bacteria or viruses that could make trouble are dealt with effectively.

Your body makes defender cells called macrophages (mak’-ro-fahj-es), whose role is to find debris, bacteria and other toxins in the blood and eliminate them.

This happens in your body automatically, but your brain is always in the loop – wires called nerves connect the brain with macrophage function so the brain is always aware of and supporting what the immune system is doing.

This is one of the reasons it’s so important to take great care of your brain. Especially now, with the dangers associated with viral infection, we all need our immune systems working at peak efficiency, and the immune system can’t work at peak efficiency without a healthy brain.

Keeping your spine aligned and moving properly with chiropractic care is one of the best things you can do to improve the health of your brain. You also want to sleep enough, drink sufficient water, and focus your diet on taking in less sugar and more healthy fat, which is brain food. Exercise will improve the circulation to your brain, and avoiding toxic agents, including food additives, gardening chemicals and some cosmetics, is wise if you want to optimize your brain. And don’t forget to include stress relaxation techniques that reduce tension and promote ease.

Whatever you can do to keep your brain healthy will come back to you many times over. Be good to your brain, and it will be good to you!

Your Amazing Immune System

We are constantly bombarded by outside forces – gravity relentlessly tugs at our structure, we’re in ongoing combat with microbial invaders, and we have to weather the storms of our emotions and stresses from work, from family, from our finances, and now, from coronavirus.

It’s a very dangerous situation, worse for certain people. At this time of writing, there are 5,370,000 Americans who have tested positive for COVID-19, and about 169,000 deaths – based on those numbers, about 3% of those infected pass away, but keep in mind that many people are positive but have never been tested, since a large percentage of those who are positive for COVID-19 have no symptoms, so they never know and never get tested. So, the percentage of fatality may be less, but even at 3%, the odds are 33 to 1 that you’re going to be okay.

Why do some people get sick and die and others have no symptoms? It has a lot to do with the way your brain and your amazing immune system work together! They keep your body functioning right and protect you from harmful substances, germs and changes in your cells and tissues, so you can experience good health.

What is your immune system? It starts at your skin, which keeps most invaders and dangerous chemicals out. Your bone marrow, the inside of your bones, and your thymus, a gland in your upper chest, make cells that fight infection. Then those cells are distributed through your bloodstream.

At the same time, your lymphatic system is kicking into gear. Your lymph system is a network of vessels that connect the blood with the tissues and organs. Your lymph nodes process information from the body and gives feedback so the defenses are directed effectively. The spleen also processes information and gives feedback in defending against infection.

It’s always important to keep your immune system healthy, but it’s even more important now – healthy people deal better with COVID-19, so do what you can to keep yourself and your family as healthy as possible!

Best Practices for Better Health in the COVID-19 Era

The data is pretty conclusive – healthier people are less likely to die from coronavirus. There are no guarantees, but the science points to a simple fundamental concept – when you are healthier overall, your chances of surviving COVID-19 are much greater.

So what are some of the best practices, habits and behaviors that build health to safeguard yourself in times like these?

We always need certain foundational stones in place – for example, it should be obvious that every machine needs fuel, and a sophisticated machine like your body needs top quality fuel to run properly.

A diet consisting of plant foods, proteins and healthy fats, with less sugar, salt and processed food is a solid starting point. Fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, lean meats and oily fish provide a rich nutritional pool in which your cells and organs can thrive.

And, there are a few extra tips you can include to support your immune system. Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and zinc have all been researched for their effect on immune system function. While some foods do contain these vital nutrients, you’ll probably get a stronger dosage if you take them as supplements to your meals.

We always need sufficient sleep, but in times of adversity like this, we need extra sleep. Your brain recharges, maintains and heals itself while you sleep, so give yourself some additional sleep time now, so your “equipment” works that much better when you need it.

So many of us have limited our environment to our homes and a few other places — most of us are exercising less, not just the exercise in a gym, but the regular moving around we do as part of daily life. Many of us have radically altered our work styles, and if that doesn’t integrate movement, we need to go out of our way to get our bodies into motion.

You’ve heard that “if you don’t use it, you lose it,” and to have your body working as well as possible, choose specific exercise or movement, like dance, or picking a parking spot that gives you a bit of a distance to walk. And if you are spending more time sitting, plan periodic stretching breaks, or do a little yoga to get your blood flowing and your nerves awakened.

It’s wise to have stress relaxation techniques built into your lifestyle in general, and many people already meditate, receive massage and apply other habits that reduce stress. Now more than ever, we need to minimize the emotional duress, since it is a time of great fear and anxiety.

If you don’t already have a daily routine that de-stresses you, that’s the place to start. If you’ve never been trained in formal meditation, you can easily get some free instruction on YouTube or from one of the many apps you can download into your phone. Ask us about BrainTap in the office or the 15-day free gift we can give you!

If you don’t have easy access to such technology, no problem – learning to sit quietly and ease your mind is organic, and anyone can do it even without any training. Just get into a comfortable position, put your mind in neutral or focus on something that makes you relax, and you’ll see, it’s easy to get into a calmer, happier place. Walking outside communing with nature is, for many, a shortcut to this meditative state.

Anything you can do to get your brain working better makes you healthier overall, and that influences immune function as well, since the brain and immune system are in constant communication. The latest research shows that chiropractic care is good for your brain, but that concept dates back to the work of Dr. Roger Sperry, who won the 1981 Nobel Prize for his advances in brain science, when he called the spine “the motor that drives the brain,” declaring that “90% of stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by spinal movement.”

So, a healthy spine helps you keep a healthy brain, and there’s no better way to improve the coordination and power of your spine than with chiropractic care. Your doctor of chiropractic is an expert in the proper care and maintenance of your spine, so for that extra winner’s edge, especially now in times of such great danger, do something more for yourself and your family. You’re worth it.

8 Vitamins and Minerals for a Healthy Immune System

Who wouldn’t want the healthiest, most functional immune system possible? Do you know the role your diet plays in keeping it able to protect you from bacteria, viruses, toxins, and other pathogens?

Unfortunately, the majority of people don’t eat enough of the fresh fruits, vegetables, and other foods we need to keep our bodies healthy. It’s silly to think you can just eat an orange or grapefruit and expect one quick burst of vitamin C to prevent a cold. A truly healthy immune system depends on a balanced mix of vitamins and minerals over time, plus normal sleep patterns, adequate stress management, proper hydration, and a hefty dose of exercise.

When possible, it is better to get your vitamins and minerals from natural food sources. God made foods in a perfect form with important ratios of nutrients, fiber, etc. However, at times, supplementation of these nutrients is helpful to keep your body and immune system functioning optimally. Here are some tips on important vitamins and minerals that can help keep you healthy.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C has a well-known connection to the immune system, but did you know you can get it from much more than just citrus fruits? Leafy green vegetables such as spinach and kale, bell peppers, brussels sprouts, strawberries and papaya are also excellent sources.

Vitamin D

As mentioned above, it’s best to get most of your vitamins from food, but vitamin D may be the exception to that rule. Vitamin D actually is more of a hormone in the body with connections to many bodily processes and is best produced by the body after skin exposure to UV radiation from the sun. You can try to increase your intake through foods such as fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines). Many people have a hard time absorbing vitamin D from food and don’t spend enough time outside in the sun, and thus, they are vitamin D deficient. Supplements are important in this case because vitamin D is extremely important, but talk to a doctor first. We can help you at Radiant Life Chiropractic if you have questions.

Vitamin A

For vitamin A, go colorful. Foods that are high in colorful compounds called carotenoids — carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cantaloupe and squash — are all great options. The body turns these carotenoids into vitamin A, and they have an antioxidant effect to help strengthen the immune system against infection.

Vitamin E

Like vitamin C, vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps your body fight off infection. Almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts and sunflower seeds are all high in vitamin E. So are spinach and broccoli.

Vitamin B6

B6 is part of nearly 200 biochemical reactions in your body and is critical to how well your immune system functions. Foods high in vitamin B6 include bananas, lean chicken breast, cold-water fish such as tuna, baked potatoes and chickpeas.

Iron

Iron, which helps your body carry oxygen to cells, comes in different forms. Your body can more easily absorb “heme iron,” which is abundant in lean poultry such as chicken and turkey, plus seafood. You can get other forms of iron in beans, broccoli and kale.

Selenium

Selenium seems to have a powerful effect on the immune system, including the potential to slow the body’s over-active responses to certain aggressive forms of cancer. You can find it in garlic, broccoli, sardines, tuna, brazil nuts and barley, among other foods.

Zinc

You can find zinc in oysters, crab, lean meats and poultry, baked beans, yogurt and chickpeas. Zinc appears to help slow down the immune response and control inflammation in your body.

Obviously, in the midst of a pandemic, there’s no better time to do anything you can to keep your body healthy. Will eating well or taking supplements prevent you from getting Covid-19? Definitely no. However, if you most likely will be exposed to the virus, why not give your immune system the best chance to protect your body and have the best outcome possible? If you have any questions about eating well, we can help and we work with partners who can take your knowledge to the next level. If you are interested in high-quality supplements, then call or text 215-259-5100, and we can help you with that also!

6 Habits To Boost Your Brain Power

Dr. Jennie Valles, a neurologist and expert in brain injury at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, reports that good social, physical and nutritional habits promote cognitive wellness – in other words, diminishing your physical, chemical and emotional stresses leads to a healthier brain.

Dr. Valles offers six innovative ways to make your brain stronger.

1. Be social. Spending time with friends and family is not only fun, it stimulates your brain and enhances the quality of your thinking. Even in quarantine while dealing with COVID-19, you have the ability to pick up a phone or get on a video call to stay connected with friends and family.
2. Eat lean. Choosing eating habits consistent with the “Mediterranean Diet,” with lean meats, low-starch vegetables and fruits, will reduce inflammation and cell damage, improve blood pressure, and balance cholesterol levels. All of these effects lead to a healthier brain.
3. Consider vitamins. In addition to a healthy diet, many people can benefit from taking vitamins, minerals, and other nutritional supplements. Ask your doctor of chiropractic or wellness practitioner what you can add to your food to improve your brain health.
4. While some may question the necessity of meditation, it’s been around for thousands of years, and clearly has a calmative effect on those who practice it – and some recent studies suggest that meditation has a positive impact on attention, memory, verbal fluency, and cognitive flexibility.
5. Your brain cleans and maintains itself during the seven or eight hours you sleep, which is why getting that much sleep is essential for a healthy brain.
6. At the very least, two or three thirty minute weekly workouts produce proteins that preserve and grow brain cells. Exercise reduces the shrinkage of your hippocampus, necessary for memory and thinking.

These six habits, along with a regimen of chiropractic care, will extend your brain wellness many years. Nobel Prize winner Dr. Roger Sperry stated that “90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by movement of the spine.” That’s one reason why chiropractic adjustments are so good for you – they are part of a complete program of brain health. So to stay healthy, develop great lifestyle habits, and take care of your brain!

Action Steps to Stay Healthy

Most of us would agree that good health, feeling well and being able to perform our typical daily activities without sickness or pain is a universal desire. Most of the time, with a little common sense and a little luck, we can arrive at a place of reasonably good health by making a few key decisions and developing a few key habits.

In times of adversity, it’s even more important for us to carefully choose the best behaviors and practices to avoid unnecessary illness and be well. Here are some of the patterns that have led to the best health possible.

One of the most obvious yet most overlooked health habits is getting enough sleep. Fatigue compromises the way your body works – in fact, chronic fatigue syndrome, which has been linked to faulty immune system function, can make you more susceptible to infection.

But even just being tired takes the edge off your normal daily routine, makes you just a little less efficient. And if your body needs some reserves, getting more sleep is one of the best ways to provide that extra power. For most people, that means seven or eight hours each night, more for kids.

The second habit we can institute is exercise, because if you don’t use it, you lose it – simple exercises like walking, jogging, and swimming stimulate blood flow, balance and coordinate your muscles, and make you feel great! Establishing a practice such as yoga, Pilates, martial arts, or playing a preferred sport can sharpen your skills even more, a vital part of staying healthy.

Different people need different amounts and frequency of exercise, but a good rule of thumb is to enjoy at least three thirty minute or five fifteen minute sessions each week. Choose a level of intensity that matches your current degree of fitness – less intense for beginners, more intense for those accustomed to more aggressive physical activity.

Third, proper nutrition is essential – giving your body the fuel it needs is necessary for it to work properly, and in times of stress or possible illness, it’s even that much more significant to feed yourself effectively. This requires a willingness to select foods that have the right chemical content to nourish you without overburdening your digestion.

Most experts agree that a variety of fresh foods, including vegetables and fruits, along with nuts, olives, avocadoes or wild fish to supply healthy fat and some additional source of protein builds a firm foundation of nutrition for you and your family. In addition, if you want to give yourself extra support, add an organic supplement with vitamins and minerals, important agents that assist your body to perform the chemical reactions that keep you going.

Many doctors recommend Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Vitamin A, along with zinc and selenium, for those families who want extra immune system support.

The fourth health routine to be implemented is stress reduction – one of the worst parts of the current epidemic is the emotional stress, both from fear and grief. Some people can just “decide” to be calm, but most of us have to do something to relax or quiet our emotions.

The most common way for people to de-stress is through meditation, prayer or communing with nature – it only takes a few minutes to get yourself into a quiet or reverent state, and allow the stress to melt away. But many can benefit from being more proactive, using stretching, breathing, BrainTap, yoga or massage to create a feeling of ease that dissipates the duress.

There is one more critical habit for you to develop, if you are serious about being healthy and avoiding getting sick, and that it to take good care of your brain. One of the best ways to do that is to seek regular chiropractic care – adjustments are shown to stimulate and nourish the brain. If you want an advantage, especially in times of health adversity, remember to visit your chiropractor – it helps your body to work better, and you’ll feel better, too.

Water – Your Secret Weapon For Better Health

Most articles written about weight management, health, fitness and longevity include water as one of the most important components to a wellness lifestyle. But why is water so important, and what happens when you don’t get enough water each day?

Your body is over 60% water, and your brain and heart are 70% or more, so it’s obvious that not taking in enough water can compromise your daily body function (including immune system function). We lose water when we breathe, sweat or urinate, and that’s why we need to take in at least half our body weight in ounces of water per day to be truly healthy and give your body what it needs to thrive.

Here is a baker dozen of ways drinking water improves your health and wellness:

1. Drinking water helps your immune system function better. It is important to keep hydrated on a regular basis, especially when it’s cold and flu season. Keep your immunity up by drinking plenty of water to stave off infection. Staying hydrated helps your body naturally eliminate toxins and other bacteria that may cause illness.
2. Drinking water helps you regulate your weight. When you don’t drink enough water, your body feels like you are parched, and retains water in your body, which makes you weigh more. Drink enough water, and your body won’t hold onto it, reducing your body weight.
3. Drinking water gives you more energy. Even slight dehydration robs you of vital energy and makes you feel groggy.
4. Drinking water helps you to focus. Dehydration impairs your brain’s ability to work properly, but enough water gives you a better memory and longer attention span.
5. Drinking water decreases your risk of stroke. A recent study shows that not only does dehydration hinder the healing process after a stroke, but it can actually contribute to the probability of stroke.
6. Drinking water puts you in a better mood. Research at the University of Connecticut showed that dehydration made test subjects tired and cranky and increased their headaches.
7. Drinking water helps to manage hunger. If you feel hungry, often that is a feeling of needing more water – have some water, and see if your hunger abates. It’s a great way to hit your target weight.
8. Drinking water reduces headaches. Dehydration is a common cause of headaches, and taking in enough water often solves the problem.
9. Drinking water gives you better skin. Insufficient water causes the collagen in your skin to begin to break down, so fine lines and wrinkles are more obvious – water plumps your skin. And, it affects your inner membranes as well, preventing dry mouth, dry eyes and so on.
10. Drinking water keeps you from wearing out early in your workout. Water is necessary to turn carbohydrates into energy and break down fat. Have enough water before, during and after your exercise, and you will have more stamina.
11. Drinking water makes it easier in the bathroom. Dehydration often leads to constipation – if your body is lacking water, it will reclaim any available water through your colon, making the dried waste harder to expel.
12. Drinking water helps your kidneys. The water dilutes the blood so the kidneys can filter it better. Not enough water makes the filtration sluggish, and can even lead to kidney stones.
13. Drinking water helps your heart. Your heart has to pump harder when your blood is too thick, so enough water means that your heart doesn’t have to work so hard.

So, there are at least a dozen reasons your body needs water – you can drink a glass or two when you wake up, a glass or two with or in between meals, and a glass or two or three between dinner and bedtime, to keep yourself hydrated. There is no excuse to not drink enough water now while you’re spending time at home. You’ll see, you’ll look better, feel better, and your body will work better for longer. It’s like your secret weapon for better health!