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Baby Boomers vs. Their Parents

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Which Group is Healthier?
Unhealthy lifestyles have caused too many members of the baby boom generation to be in worse health compared to their parents during the same stage of life.

A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine reported only 13% of today’s baby boomers are in excellent health while their parents’ generation was 32%. Comparatively speaking, 39% of today’s baby boomers are obese and 16% have diabetes. The previous generation’s numbers for these same conditions are 29% and 12% respectively.

According to Dana King, a professor at the West Virginia School of Medicine and the study’s lead author, today’s baby boomers are twice as likely to use a cane or walker than the previous generation. “It’s not too late to adopt new, healthy lifestyle habits and make a difference in your health,” said King.

Don’t Wait for a Crisis
What will it take for you to make the lifestyle changes you know you need to make to improve your quality of life? Will you wait for a severe crisis that leaves you with permanent damage and a future of disability or will you make a quality of life, Lifestyle Care, choice that will ensure your quality of life for the remainder of your years.

Easy FitNESS Acronym to Remember
The acronym FitN2ESS can get you on the right track immediately. To get and stay healthy and fit you need neurology, nutrition, endurance strength and structure.

Neurology: Every cell tissue and organ needs innervation, nerve supply, to function properly.

Nutrition: Choose quality calories over empty calories every time you make a food choice and drink plenty of good clean water.

Endurance: Cardiovascular exercise including walking, running, riding a bike or swimming will prepare you for the marathon of your extended life.

Strength: We have all seen an older person struggle to get out of a chair. Don’t wait until you lose your strength to try and get it back. Strength train now.

Structure: The health and function of your posture, spine and nervous system will determine how active and healthy you can be as you age.

If your posture appears to be changing don’t waste another minute and schedule a chiropractic check-up. Lifestyle Care can improve your health dramatically. It is very important that today’s baby boomers learn from our current generation of seniors and super-seniors who were blindsided by their extended lives. You cannot blame your genes for your current health condition. Adjust your lifestyle and optimize the expression of your genes so that you can enjoy the quality life you deserve.

Avoiding Everyday Health Traps

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Are You Heading For An Everyday Health Trap?
Do you sit at a computer and talk on the phone all day? Do you wedge the phone between your ear and shoulder while you write? Is your desk, chair, keyboard or monitor too high or low? Do you text, surf the internet or watch movies with a hand held device? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then pay attention to this article and learn how to avoid these everyday health traps.

The health traps above cause repetitive strains that can have a similar effect on your body as a car accident, only it takes longer. Where a car accident takes a split second to cause injuries and health problems, repetitive strains may take a week, a month, six months or a year. The effects on your body can even lie dormant for decades without giving you any notice of a problem. Or, they can become sudden and dramatic.

Repetitive strains can cause vertebral subluxations in your spine that interfere with the function of your nerve system and affect your health on many levels. Headaches, neck pain, low back pain and herniated discs are just a few of the problems that can arise. Because your nerves control everything in your body, your organs and systems may be affected also. These symptoms and injuries can hamper your career and cost you a lot of unnecessary expense, time and suffering.

Here are 3 simple things you can do to avoid and prevent these everyday health traps:

Fix Up Your Workspace. Don’t wait for your company to do this for you or for a crisis to force you to do it. Back pillows, wrist rests, and headsets are not very expensive and can make a big difference. If you buy them yourself, you can take them with you if you change jobs or work from home. If you use a laptop, try standing at a counter instead of sitting at your desk. Move around your workspace instead of sitting during a call. Don’t underestimate the value these small changes can make on your body. Do them immediately.

Stretch and Watch Your Posture. By stretching your neck, shoulders and back periodically during the day, you will keep tension from building up in your muscles. Have you experienced soreness after a workout? The same lactic acid buildup that causes soreness after exercise causes muscle fatigue and weakness from these health traps. When texting and working with your handheld device, straighten up and be conscious of your posture, raising the device to eye level. If straightening up is uncomfortable, then you are way overdue for a chiropractic check-up.

Adjust Your Lifestyle. Avoiding everyday health traps can be as simple as adjusting your lifestyle. Having the awareness that you are doing things on a daily basis that may deteriorate your health and quality of life as you age will help you make changes in the moment that are good for you long term.

How long have these unhealthy everyday health traps been a part of your lifestyle? How many months or years of these unhealthy habits have you accumulated? If your answer is more than 30 days, then now is the time for a chiropractic check-up. Whether you have symptoms or not, you can prevent underlying health problems from becoming permanent by taking these appropriate action steps right now.

The Power of Recommitment

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Commit to What Matters to You
We all know the power of commitment. Think about the last time you committed yourself to something that was significant to you. Was it your family, your health, your job, or learning a new skill? Commitment is energizing because you block out the world, focus your energy, and create meaningful results.

Too many people make a commitment, get the results they want, and then become complacent or back off of their commitment. When this happens, the results you created when you were committed mystically vanish into thin air leaving you wondering what went wrong, what happened, and why did it all come to a stop?

The answer is simple: it is not enough to commit to something that is good for you, you must recommit every day. This daily recommitment makes those areas of your life that are important to you a part of your lifestyle which leads to tremendous fulfillment and lasting results.

Recommit Daily
Stop wondering what you need to do to get your health back on track. Recommit. Recommit to eating healthy, exercising, getting adjusted on a regular basis and making choices that bring balance to your life. Recommit. Recommit to spending quality time with your family and listening to your spouse or significant other. Recommit. Recommit to the hobbies, passions, and activities that bring you joy. Recommit. Recommit to your job, nurturing your talents and abilities and building your skills.

Commitment is a one-time action. Recommitment, every time you are faced with a choice, is ongoing and is how meaningful lives are built. In addition to recommitting to the things you know you need to do, say no to the things you know are destructive to your health, vitality, and lifestyle. These usually include things like saying no to unhealthy foods, saying no to drugs, or saying no to mindless television and internet surfing.

We see the power of recommitment in our practice every day through the people who have made Lifestyle Care their top priority. Since this type of care is not based on symptoms, people who participate in Lifestyle Care typically feel healthier and younger every day even as they age. They get off the symptomatic roller coaster ride that comes with being committed one day and not staying committed the next.

Enjoy a Healthier, Longer Life
According to the New England Centenarian Study, you are more likely to live an active, healthy, long life if you avoid sickness in the first place. According to the Health Care Hierarchy of The 100 Year Lifestyle, you must make self-care and health care your top priority.

The power of daily recommitment will optimize the expression of your Innate potential for a lifetime. Recommit.

Why would you want to live any other way?

Vacation Motivation

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“Ahhhh….Vacation!”
When we are young, vacation for most implies a laid back schedule filled with adventure, fun and “me” time. We dream about vacation for weeks. We can hardly wait. When the day arrives, we say goodbye to work, hello to fun and exhale a contented sigh of “Ahhhh….Vacation!”

Take A Vacation Quiz
As the pressure of life grows, it becomes easy to lose sight of the purpose for vacation and let our lives get out of balance. What motivates you now to take vacation time? When you think of your vacation days which of the following applies to you or someone you know?

A.) Vacation is well-deserved time off to reconnect with family and friends and to physically and emotionally rejuvenate. I take vacations regularly.

B.) Vacation days are like money in the bank because I can buy the unused time from my employer at the end of the year. I try not to use all of my weeks.

C.) I am saving my vacation days because I have used or probably will use up all of my sick days this year. I wish I had more vacation days left.

D.) Are you kidding? I can’t take a vacation right now. There is too much at stake!

If you chose the first one for your usual response to vacation, good for you! Enjoy your vacation. You deserve it!

If you chose any of the other responses, you are looking at vacation time in an unhealthy way. Regularly using your vacation days for anything other than their intended use, means you may be heading towards a crisis. There are times when unexpected reasons arise and you’ll need to take time off; however, waiting to schedule vacations based upon “what if” is not a good way to plan out your calendar.

Quality Time Living
The 100 Year Lifestyle model of time is Prime Time, Prep Time and Play Time. Together these make up Quality Time Living, an important part of Lifestyle Care. Play Time is taking planned time off. It has many benefits and may help prevent forced time off as a result of a health crisis. Just like people who make the Critical Transition to Lifestyle Care with their chiropractic care often experience higher levels of health consistently, the same is true with people who plan for and build vacations into their lifestyle.

Vacations may help you live longer – A study by the State University of New York at Oswego that surveyed 12,000 men between ages 35 and 57, found that men who go on vacation every year reduce their overall risk of death by 20 percent. The Framington Heart Study indicates women who regularly take time off have a 50 percent lower risk for heart attack.

Vacations can raise energy levels – Experts from the University of Pittsburgh and Radboud University both said that people had more energy and felt more satisfied with life on vacation.

Vacations free your mind – The author of “How To Succeed In Business…” Robert Kriegel says that many workers get their best ideas away from work and Los Angeles psychologist, Robert Butterworth told ABC, “The break will allow you to refresh your brain cells.”

Vacations can strengthen relationships – A Wisconsin Medical Journal published findings that women who take two or more vacations a year are less likely to be depressed, tired, or unhappy with their marriage.

If you still believe you can’t take a vacation and there is too much at stake, in one way, you are right. There is too much at stake: The toll on your long term vitality, health and energy. Stress affects everyone differently. It is well documented that high levels of stress can contribute to heart disease, cancer, digestive issues and sleep deprivation. Stress can elevate cortisol levels and reduce the strength of your immune system. These are just a few conditions from a long list that can slowly sneak up on you over time or dramatically surprise you with the speed of their impact in your life. If you use up all your sick days then have to dip into your vacation days, where is the win?

You have the choice. What’s your vacation motivation going to be? Go ahead, adjust your lifestyle and take a vacation. You deserve it!

Recommended Vacation Reading: The 100 Year Lifestyle Second Edition, available now on Amazon.com

References from www.businessinsider.com and from www.prevention.com

Children’s Health and Longevity

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According to the British Medical Journal, The Lancet, 50 percent of the babies born since the year 2000 are expected to live over the age of 100. Additional research is concerned that our current generation of children may be the first in recent history to see their life expectancy go down.

How can this be? Doesn’t it seem like a contradiction to see so many children living longer while their overall life expectancy goes down? The answer is sad yet simple in that the other 50percent of children are expected to die younger and sicker than ever, not because of their genetics, but because of unhealthy lifestyle choices.

The Requirements of a Healthy Life
It is not rocket science to understand the connection between lifestyle choices, quality of life and longevity. A healthy life requires a lifestyle that includes healthy food, exercise, strong social circles and a healthy spine and nervous system, The 100 Year Lifestyle, as well as avoiding destructive habits such as smoking and excessive stress. On the other hand, a 50 to 60 year lifestyle includes unhealthy eating with excessive sugar, calories, sitting, lack of exercise and an unhealthy spine and nervous system.

“It Runs in My Family”
Are you raising your children to live a 60 year lifestyle or a 100 Year Lifestyle? You will often hear people say as they get older, after they are diagnosed with diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes, that “these diseases run in my family.” While there is a genetic component to these conditions, it is actually a small component. These diseases are mostly lifestyle diseases. Based on the lifestyle in which your children are being raised, they are either inheriting the lifestyle habits that contribute to a 60 year lifestyle or they are inheriting the lifestyle habits that contribute to a healthy, active, positive, productive 100 years and beyond.

100 Year Lifestyle Affiliate chiropractic offices are filled with individuals and families who are committed to optimizing the expression of their genes by living their ideal 100 Year Lifestyle. By providing a positive environment filled with healthy lifestyle education and chiropractic care, we are helping our community raise healthy drug-free families over the course of their entire lifetime.

It’s Not Too Late
If you have not been healthy and you are ready for a change, it is not too late for you. 100 Year Lifestyle Affiliates provide care to many people who have lived from crisis to crisis and become tired of the suffering and the roller coaster ride. The good news is that, because of the amazing ability of your body to adapt and heal, it is never too late to take care of your spine and nerve system and adjust your lifestyle.

Begin shopping in stores that sell organic food. Fill up your shopping cart with fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and whole grains. Avoid high fat foods like cookies, cakes, and cereals that are high in sugar as well as white flour and white rice. Turn off the TV and the video games and get outside with your family for walks or bike rides, and come in together for your chiropractic appointments.

In 1903 Thomas Edison said, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” It is 2013 and the future is now. You do your part by making good lifestyle choices and we will do our part keeping the master control system of your body, your nervous system, functioning at its full potential so you can enjoy good health now, for 100 years and beyond.

Health Care Is Rising

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Health Care is Rising. As the U.S. and many other nations try to figure out how to pay for the challenges of the aging population, individuals are realizing that they need to take responsibility for their own health through their lifestyle choices, while also utilizing chiropractic as their first choice for care.

People are living longer than ever. Our generation is the first in history that is getting the advance notice that whether we like it or not, want to or not we will probably live longer than we ever thought. The question is what will our quality of life be like along the way? Will we enjoy an active, healthy, purposeful life with meaningful relationships or will we follow in the path of the many elderly now residing in nursing homes? When it comes to health care values, how will we raise our children differently?

Hundred year old people are the world’s fastest growing segment of the population. The U.S. Census expects this group to grow by 746% between now and the year 2040. This is a staggering statistic as the Baby Boomer Generation moves into their later years. Unfortunately, Baby Boomers are watching their parents and grandparents suffer in their longevity with deterioration and chronic disease. Simultaneously, as they themselves get older, they are waking up to the reality that they need to live their lives differently and make their health a priority before they get sick. This is a philosophical shift that goes way beyond the concept of Affordable Care.

When Dr. Eric Plasker wrote The 100 Year Lifestyle in 2007, the United States was ranked 37th in Life Expectancy and 35th in Infant Mortality. Upon researching the statistics for The 100 Year Lifestyle Second Edition, available now, he was disturbed that our country has become worse in both categories: dropping to 51st in Life Expectancy and 44th in Infant Mortality.

While quality medical care may be necessary when there is disease or a severe accident, Health Care is different. Health Care is about keeping your body, mind and spirit functioning at full potential. It’s about keeping yourself fit, balanced and healthy, and optimizing the function of your nervous system. Chiropractors who are practicing this philosophy of The 100 Year Lifestyle are providing this solution for the people in their communities.

Millions of families – three, four and five generations of them – have been utilizing chiropractic care since birth or early childhood and are some of the healthiest people. I look at my family members who have been fortunate enough to grow up with a healthy spine and nervous system and healthy lifestyle choices and I have seen them thrive as they become healthy adults. This is the direction that humanity needs to follow.

In 1903 Thomas Edison, the great inventor, was quoted:

“The doctor of the FUTURE will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

Well, that was 110 years ago. Enough time has passed to have the “future” be now. The new quote says:

“The doctor of the PRESENT will give no medicine but will interest their patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of Dis-ease.”

Isn’t it time that you and your family be present? Yes, let health care begin rising for you!