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Lifestyle Care Continuum

Under New Management

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Have you ever seen a sign on a business, “Under New Management?” What comes to mind?

Usually it is thoughts of hope, new infusion of energy and resources or the old management wasn’t working, better business, excitement, new people, new systems, new products and new idea…something new and better in a nutshell.

It is interesting to see what is new and better with the New Management especially if it is a business you have used or visited in the past.

Now is a great time to ask yourself “How effective was I managing myself this past year?” In the arena of physical health are you healthier now than last year or worse? Is your weight up, the same, or down? Is your blood pressure higher or lower? What did your lab results look like? How is your energy? How are you sleeping? What is your exercise frequency or at all? How do you feel?

Did you manage yourself well or are you worse off? You may have made New Year’s Resolutions about things you know you needed to change. How did that work out?

Do you need to be under New Management? Not that someone will step in and manage you, but you can hire advisors such as Chiropractors, personal trainers, nutritionists and life coaches but what you really need is a new mindset. This mindset has to be the overriding factor of what you are committed to and plan to accomplish for yourself, your health and your life.

Brutal facts will help you manage your health. People are living longer whether they want to or not. Centenarians, people over 100, are the fastest growing population in the US. The current aging population was blindsided by longevity and now has become the nursing care generation. Chronic illness, obesity and health care costs are rising. The current “health care” system is not working. Something has to change.

Luckily, you can make the change. You can live The 100 Year Lifestyle each and every day and avoid 70 to 90% of the problems people seek care for by changing your lifestyle.

Here is how to be under New Management:
1. Exercise 4 to 6 times per week with endurance exercise, strengthening exercise and stretching. Start off with a few minutes each time if exercise has not been part of your life lately. You can increase your exercise time and frequency as you reach plateaus.
2. Eat for quality not quantity. A new menu is often part of New Management. Be creative!
3. Get proper rest. Sticking to your New Management goals is easier when you’ve given yourself time to rejuvenate mentally and physically.
4. Protect your spine and nervous system by removing interference to the flow of information between your brain and body.

Our office can help you with your New Management. Chiropractors have been helping people regain, retain and optimize their health for over 125 years. Management of your future health can be optimized by seeking care from us to help you live your ideal 100 Year Lifestyle. Introducing the New Management – YOU!

Contributed by Dr. Dennis Buckley -The 100 Year Lifestyle Licensed Affiliate Chiropractor in Pasadena, CA

Sitting Solutions

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The Bottom Line On Sitting

Millions of people working from their homes and offices are spending way too much time in their chairs. This is a habit that can lead to more than just a numb bum!

Too much sitting sets you up for a host of physical problems including poor circulation, chronic back and nerve pain, depression, osteoporosis, swollen spinal disks, fatigue and many other health problems. In fact, according to Health Day News, Canadian researchers found that prolonged daily sitting could cause these problems even if you exercise regularly.

Stand Up for Yourself

According to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the U.S. will spend $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years treating a wide range of debilitating ailments resulting from sedentary lifestyle such as diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, certain cancers, and even sexual dysfunction. They’ve even coined their own term, Sedentary Death Syndrome (SeDS), as a growing life-threatening risk for many unsuspecting Americans.

No need to worry though. You can stand strong with these Sitting Solutions:

– 50/10 RULE: Don’t sit for more than 50 minutes. Set a timer and take 10 when it rings.

– BE A SWINGER: Stand with hands on your hips and legs slightly more than shoulder width apart. Rotate your hips clockwise in a full range of motion ten times and then reverse it. Stand sideways next to your desk. Put all your weight on your right leg and gently swing your left leg forwards and backwards 10 times. Repeat with other leg.

– DON’T BE A CROOKED SITTER OR SLOUCHER: Sit up straight. If you find this difficult, uncomfortable or painful, call our office and schedule an appointment. Your spine may have a misalignment with nerve pressure, a subluxation, which needs correcting.

– TAKE YOUR LUNCH BREAK: Get up and go somewhere even if you bring something in.

– GO MOBILE: Attach a portable unit to your stationary phone or use a cell.

– HOLD “MEETINGS ON THE MOVE”: Take a walk through the building, meet clients on a hiking trail or stroll outdoors.

– PUT A LUMBAR PILLOW IN YOUR CHAIR

– INVEST IN AN ERGONOMIC CHAIR

– STAND UP AND SURF: Raise your workstation or monitor so you can net surf and type while standing.

– GO TO THE GYM – BUT STAY OFF THE STATIONARY BIKE

Take Care of Your Spine

Sitting is to the spine like sugar is to the teeth except you can’t replace your spine after it rots away. Chiropractic Lifestyle Care provides gentle adjustments to the spine that can eliminate pain and improve your health.

These Sitting Solutions will improve your health and quality of life dramatically.

Copyright 2015 The Family Practice, Inc., Dr. Eric Plasker and The 100 Year Lifestyle. All Rights Reserved.

Body or Health Conscious

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Are you Body Conscious or Health Conscious

Unfortunately, too many people are concerned about how they look and not necessarily about their health. Perhaps you do not know the difference between being body conscious or health conscious. The following information will help you understand this critical difference as it relates to the following topics:

Eating Fats

If you are body conscious, you will not eat fats out of fear of adding fat to your shape. If you are health conscious, you will eat a moderate amount of healthy fat because hormones, nerves and cell membranes require fat to function properly.

Eating Sugar

If you are body conscious, you believe sugar gives you energy to workout and if you work out more, you can build larger muscles and look better. If you are health conscious, you know that energy from sugar is temporary, empty calories. You’d rather eat natural whole foods of complex carbs for sustained energy.

Sleep
If you are body conscious, you believe that you will get enough sleep to keep circles from forming under your eyes. If you are health conscious, you recognize that sleep is essential to re-boot your system and rejuvenate your body.

Lifting Weights

If you are body conscious, you lift weights to create larger muscles for a “hard body”, muscular look. If you are health conscious, you lift weights to gain/maintain strength and structural integrity.

Aerobic Exercise

If you are body conscious, you believe that if you do cardio today, you can have dessert and/or eat whatever you want today. If you are health conscious, you believe that if you do cardio today, you will improve your heart strength, your endurance and create a strong heart to serve you for years.

Doing Yoga

If you are body conscious, you may think, “How does yoga help with my body shape? It is a waste of time”. If you are health conscious, you know that yoga centers, stretches and strengthens you from your core. It calms you and helps keep you balanced.

Chiropractic Care

If you are body conscious, you believe that you will go to a chiropractor to help alleviate an ache or pain, so you can workout and look better. If you are health conscious, you know that you will go to a chiropractor to alleviate an ache or pain and continue to utilize care to keep your nervous system working at its best. Like eating healthy foods and exercising regularly, it keeps your body functioning at optimum levels.

So Which are You?

Body Conscious or Health Conscious? Are there any changes you know you need to make? We are here to support you to be the healthiest version of you possible.

Contributed by Dr. Jordan Plasker, 100 Year Lifestyle Licensed Affiliate in Montvale, NJ

Need vs. Want

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Contributed by Dr. Josh Handt, Affiliate in New City, NY

Are you the kind of person who only takes care of yourself when you are in desperate need and in the middle of a crisis? Do you know anyone else like this? Or do you take care of yourself because you want to live a healthier, more active lifestyle? Shifting your motivation from crisis to lifestyle is life changing and easier than you think.

Crisis Care choices are based on what you need at a given moment in time to survive the crisis. Lifestyle Care choices are based on what you want so that you can optimize your quality of life now and in your future. At some point, if you truly want to get the most out of life you are going to have to transition your thinking and your actions from Need to Want. This includes how you take care of your spine and nervous system.

Crisis care people only take care of themselves when they feel like something is wrong. The problem is that only 10% of your central nervous system deals with sensation and when that is interfered with, you feel pain. What does the other 90% do?

Your autonomic nervous system makes up approximately 45% of the remaining 90% of nerves and controls all your organs, glands and systems. The remaining 45% of the nerves control motor function which includes your muscles. When these two parts of the nervous system experience interference, you may get signs or symptoms other than pain such as allergies, sinusitis, low energy, digestive disturbances, muscle spasms, weakness or fatigue.

Crisis care people treat the symptoms. This is what the media and drug ads teach us to do. We are trained to use medication to hide the problem or symptom, not to correct the cause of the problem. This perpetuates our underlying problems and causes them to get worse over time. We feel better because our symptoms are altered, while our bodies continue to deteriorate.

Lifestyle Care people remove the cause and make Lifestyle Care a priority regardless of how they feel. When they go to a restaurant, they make healthy food choices. When they go to a grocery store, they fill their carts with live foods such as fruits and vegetables and lean meats. They avoid eating sugar. When it comes to their chiropractic checkups, they are consistent with their Lifestyle Care so they can function at their highest potential.

Isn’t it time that you make this transition for yourself and your loved ones? Don’t wait for the crisis. A healthier, more vibrant future is waiting for your shift from Need to Want. We’ll see you and your family at your next appointment.

Copyright 2015 The Family Practice, Inc., Dr. Eric Plasker and The 100 Year Lifestyle. All Rights Reserved.

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!

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.