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Stress Less During Your Commute

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Your commute can be a large component of your daily stress load. It doesn’t need to be.

Here are six tips to help you Stress Less and Live More during your commute:

1. Shorten your Drive – Use a traffic and navigation application such as WAZE to improve your daily commute. These apps share real-time information and will help you save time, gas and energy while commuting.

2. Plan Ahead– For a smoother morning, prepare the night before and give yourself some flex time for the unexpected. Create a positive morning routine to keep you focused before you walk out the door.

3. Breathe! – While you are driving, or any time for that matter, if you feel yourself becoming stressed, take a deep breath. Take a few of them. This will calm your nerves and reduce the stress on your mind and body.

4. Learn – Use your commute to learn a new language, listen to personal development resources or audio books. Not only will you be learning and growing as a person, you will also find you begin to look forward to the commute time instead of dreading it. Your commute will be a twice a day opportunity to make yourself better.

5. Build Relationships – As long as your car is set up for Bluetooth and you are not violating any laws, commute time is a great time to stay in touch with family, friends or business relationships.

Take the time to learn all of the features of your system so that you can utilize the technology in a safe and efficient way. Never compromise safety and pay attention to your driving while you connect to the important people in your life.

6. Support your Spine – Sitting can put a lot of stress on your spine. Long commutes can cause spinal problems and aggravate existing ones. Use the lumbar support that is built into your car seat or get a portable one that you can use in your car or take with you to work.

Make an appointment for a chiropractic examination and check the alignment of your spine to ensure that your nerves are functioning properly.

You will be amazed at the difference chiropractic care can make in your life. Starting today, Stress Less and Live More. on your commute and always.

See you at your next appointment!

Stress Less Fitness Tips

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These five Stress Less Fitness tips will lessen your Stress and allow you to Live More.

There is an acronym for Fitness in The 100 Year Lifestyle that will ensure you Stress Less, Live More, stay healthy and on top of your game. The acronym takes the word Fitness and uses the N2ESS as follows:

N: Neurology – Stress is a nervous system reaction that can affect your entire body. Your brain and nervous system control and coordinate everything: your heart, digestion, breathing, hormones and muscles. A healthy nervous system is essential in adapting to stress.

N: Nutrition – Good nutrition is important for your body to be healthy. Quality calories come from live foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains. They are nutritionally satisfying because they contain vitamins, minerals, fiber and amino acids that are the building blocks of a healthy body. Choose organic or chemical free options. Both empty and excess calories will lead to sickness, low energy, obesity and chronic health problems. Empty calories come from foods such as white sugar, white flour and white rice.

E: Endurance – Exercise can help your body cope with stress in a healthy way. If you have good endurance, you will enjoy a greater sense of stamina now and while you age. Your energy will be higher and you will feel like staying active. You will be able to endure stressful times. You can increase your stamina through cardiovascular and aerobic exercise that strengthens your heart, burns calories and increases your energy.

S: Strength – Your level of strength will determine your ability to remain active and independent as you age. Through regular strength training with a personal trainer or on your own, you can build muscle and stand strong, no matter how many birthdays you celebrate. The saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it” is definitely true when it comes to strength. Free weights, functional training machines, Pilates and Yoga are all examples of exercises that build your strength.

S: Structure – If your body breaks down at the onset of a new fitness routine, there may be an underlying cause in your structure and spine, such as subluxations. You may experience pain and injuries that become nagging to severe. It can also keep you from getting results.

Chiropractic examinations can reveal underlying problems in your spine that can keep you from getting in shape and also lead to all types of health problems. The opposite of Stress Free living! Don’t wait until you “feel it” to get checked. You may be waiting too long. Why spoil your momentum if you are working out to get in shape, Stress Less and Live More?

Schedule an appointment for your chiropractic check-up today!

Natural Fertility Support

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Starting or expanding your family may be an important component of your 100 Year Lifestyle. Fertility challenges can be discouraging and frustrating. To increase your chances for an easy conception and pregnancy, keep your spine and nervous system healthy with Lifestyle Care and try some of these healthy tips!

AVOID – MicroNutrient deficiencies which can result from stress, smoking, toxins, poor diet, and prescription medications including certain contraceptives.

TRY – A good whole food multivitamin and probiotic, during and after birth control use, to prevent nutritional deficiency and restore already depleted levels.

AVOID – Having an abnormal body mass index. Being underweight or overweight can affect fertility in both males and females. In a person who is underweight, the body naturally panics and shuts down many important bodily processes and literally turns down reproduction.

With obesity, adiponectin (a protein released by fat cells that assists in burning up fat) decreases. Adiponectin would normally help to make the body more sensitive to insulin (which enhances ovulation). Without sufficient adiponectin, the body becomes resistant to insulin and fertility is compromised.

TRY – Normalizing weight before trying to conceive. Good nutrition helps to create a “clean slate” within the body that helps it to respond and utilize other natural remedies better. Try “cleaning and greening” your life before trying to conceive. Be sure that you are eating adequate amounts of foods such as dark leafy greens, sesame seeds, seaweed, almonds, quinoa, chia, and bone broth to maintain proper hormone production.

AVOID – Oxidative stress. This is heavily linked with many chronic diseases and fertility challenges. When we are exposed to environmental stress such as pollution, radiation, toxins in the home and work place, caffeine, smoking and drugs, the body accumulates oxidative stress. This may result in significant damage to cell structures, sperm cell development and ovary function, decreasing chances of fertilization and increasing the chance of miscarriage. Hundreds of synthetic chemicals found in our environment are now identified as hormone disruptors for ovulation, fertilization and implantation of the embryo.

TRY – Natural products for household cleaning, body care, pest and weed control and building materials.

AVOID – Spinal subluxations which occur when there are misalignments of the spine or pelvis. This results in altered joint motion and nerve irritation which can lessen organ function and general health. Both the severity of the subluxation and the length of time it has been left uncorrected dictate the impact on fertility.

TRY – Living “free and clear” so proper nerve messages that initiate and sustain reproduction can do their job. Don’t wait for a crisis to get started under chiropractic care. Make the critical transition to Lifestyle Care to optimize the function of your nervous system, which can contribute to the likelihood of conceiving.

Whether you are planning to conceive or not quite yet, these tips will help you live healthier and prepare you for parenting.

Contributed by Dr. Kendra Becker

Soccer and Chiropractic

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Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world. People of all ages enjoy playing for fun and fitness and billions of fans everywhere gather to watch the most talented athletes in the world play “the beautiful game” every week and especially during the Fifa World Cup.

For many of these athletes, Chiropractic has played an important role in their training to achieve peak performance levels and as a part of their lifestyle.

Dr. Mike Foudy of Mission Viejo, CA, team chiropractor for the Women’s World Cup Championship Team in 1994 said, “all but one member of the team received regular chiropractic care during their training and on the days of their matches. Chiropractic adjustments balanced their spine, removed nerve pressure and optimized the function of their bodies. They felt like they healed quicker from injuries and that the care gave them a competitive edge.”

Recently, 2015 Master’s Champion Jordan Spieth thanked his chiropractor during his Green Jacket speech. Famous athletes in every sport have made chiropractic care a regular part of training, including NFL greats Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and Roger Craig.

Dr. Eric Plasker, author of the #1 Best Selling, The 100 Year Lifestyle Workout, was the chiropractor for one of the top youth soccer teams in the nation. During a winning streak that led to a National Championship, Dr. Plasker said, “The team receives adjustments prior to games. During tournament weekends, while the other teams are scrambling to change their lineups due to injuries, our team bounces back fast and brings an energetic advantage to championship games. The players and coach agree that chiropractic care helps them compete at the highest level and avoid injuries.”

For soccer players and for athletes of all ages, there are three components to maximizing your performance and fitness levels that will help you get your ESS in Shape. All three components of the ESS are crucial for any athlete who wants to heal quickly function and at their highest level and participate throughout their lifetime.

“E” stands for Endurance. Cardiovascular fitness is necessary to have a healthy heart and maintain stamina during games. The first “S” stands for Strength. Athletes who are physically strong can get the competitive edge over others. The second “S” stands for Structure which means having a healthy spine and nervous system.

Unfortunately, too many athletes have their ESS out of balance, focusing on one or two of the components of the ESS rather than all three. This imbalance keeps athletes from reaching peak performance levels and can also lead to injuries.

Soccer players must pay particular attention to the balance of their ESS, especially their structure, spine and nervous system. Repetitive twisting on the lower back and hips while kicking the ball can lead to misalignments that put pressure on the nerves. This may cause immediate symptoms such as back, hip, leg, knee, ankle or foot pain, or it may lie dormant and asymptomatic until ‘the straw breaks the camel’s back.’ As time goes on, these imbalances can make an athlete slower and weaker, diminishing the strength of their kick.

Locating these spinal subluxations can be done by a chiropractic examination. During this World Cup season, treat yourself like many of the pros do and schedule a chiropractic appointment. You will get a big kick out of the care.

Smart Phone Syndromes

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Smartphones have taken over our lives and we can’t imagine life without them. However, based on new research and health information, it is important to be smarter than ever about smartphone use.

Neck & Spinal Problems
Many 100 Year Lifestyle Affiliate chiropractors are finding that long-term smartphone usage is having a detrimental effect on the health of their patients’ spine and nervous system leading to many types of pain syndromes and health problems. The nerves in the neck directly or indirectly supply vital messages to the muscles of the head and neck, as well as all of the organs and glands of the body. If the messages are altered due to compression the symptoms can be mild to non-existent initially but then come on like a freight train when you least expect it.

Research out of the Center for Musculoskeletal Research in Sweden found that 90percent of the participants held their head in a flexed position when texting or playing games on their smartphone. According to research by Dr. Ken Hansraj, the head, which normally weighs around 10 pounds, can exert a force of up to 60 pounds on the neck when it is tilted forward at an angle of 60 degrees. This repetitive, chronic stress, can cause new alignment issues in the spine as well as aggravate pre-existing ones.

Instead of wedging your phone between your head and shoulder which can make the problems even worse, connect it to a headset or other hands-free device and when suitable, use the speaker phone setting. Better yet, arrange a face to face or webcam connection to communicate.

Wrist & Elbow Problems
Good Housekeeping reported that carpal tunnel syndrome is affecting more people from overuse of smart phones. Inflammation in the elbow can cause pain and numbness in the ring finger and pinky finger. It now has its own diagnosis called “Cellphone Elbow”.

Many of our Affiliates are finding that more and more patients need to have their elbows and wrists evaluated and adjusted as an additional service, in addition to their spine, because of this long-term smartphone use. And while the chiropractic adjustments are very effective, being smart about limiting your smartphone use and how you hold it can prevent the problem from recurring.

Smartphones are the Information and Technology System that enables a constant clear stream between you and your personal, business and global connections. Your nervous system is the IT system that keeps your body working properly. Be smart about your body’s IT system. Chiropractic checkups can detect issues before they are able to develop into something more serious.

Your Beautiful Brain

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Your brain and nervous system are absolutely amazing! Here are some spectacular facts to ponder:

Your brain consists of about 100 billion neurons.

There are anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for each neuron.

There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain.

There are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.

The human brain is the fattiest organ in the body and may consist of at least 60percentsign fat.

Neurons develop at the rate of 250,000 neurons per minute during early pregnancy.

A newborn baby’s brain grows about three times its size in the first year.

A stimulating environment for a child can make the difference between a 25percentsign greater ability to learn and 25percentsign less in an environment with little stimulation.

Humans continue to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity.

While awake, your brain generates between 10 and 23 watts of power, or enough energy to power a light bulb.

Excessive stress has shown to “alter brain cells, brain structure and brain function”.

Every time you recall a memory or have a new thought, you are creating a new connection in your brain.
Learning new things helps the brain’s response time.

Laughing requires activity in five areas of the brain.

The average number of thoughts that humans are believed to experience each day is 700,000.

Albert Einstein’s brain was similar in size to other humans except in the region that is responsible for math and spatial perception. In that region, his brain was 35% wider than average.

A brain thought to be 2000 years old was unearthed just recently at the University of York in northern England.

Your brain communicates with every cell, tissue and organ in your body by way of the spinal cord and nervous system components.

Interference to this communication caused by spinal subluxations can affect your health on every level.

Chiropractic adjustments correct the subluxations that impact your health on every level. Lifestyle Care can help optimize the function of your nervous system.

Spinal subluxations can subtly or dramatically affect your brain function. Correcting spinal subluxations can improve your brain function.

A chiropractic checkup and regular adjustments support the optimum function of your brain and nervous system and most important, support your goals for living your best life every day of your life.

See you at your next appointment!