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nervous system

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!

Trying or Training

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Contributed by Dr. Dennis Buckley, Affiliate in Pasadena, CA

If you wanted to run a marathon how would you prepare in anticipation?

Would you go out and TRY to run 26.2 miles or would you devise a plan to TRAIN yourself to accomplish such a feat?

Trying to run 26.2 miles without any training would prove to be nearly impossible and you could injure yourself by pushing beyond your capabilities. To cover that distance takes time to build up the strength and endurance required.

Why would someone TRY to be healthy instead of TRAINING to be healthy? Why would someone try to be more generous, disciplined, spiritual, honest, professional, etcetera instead of training to be that way?

Trying can be the first step to move in a new direction but it is not the last step. It is a tiny step, a baby step. Trying can fool us into thinking we are improving but the key to long lasting change is training and quick fixes rarely last. Committed training through disciplined action is the key to long lasting change and optimum performance.

Exercise and Nutrition only get you part way to your goal. When it comes to your health and living your 100 Year Lifestyle, you need to train yourself in 5 areas: Neurology, Nutrition, Endurance, Strength and Structure.

Restoring the structure of your spine and nervous system gives you the potential to become a master at whatever it is for which you are training. All 5 areas integrate together, enhance each other and are required if you seek quantity of years and quality of health.

You will train in these areas by choice or by necessity. Necessity follows crisis. If you want to avoid an untimely and expensive crisis then train with consistency.

Your training will be optimized through Chiropractic Care. There are 3 types of care: Crisis Care, Critical Transition and Lifestyle Care. Crisis Care is based on need and takes you to the point of relief and stability. Lifestyle Care is based on want and supports the health goals you have for your life now and as you age.

The Critical Transition is critical. It opens up greater opportunity to reach and surpass those goals and is vital to the regeneration of your body’s innate ability to heal itself and function at optimum levels.

If a crisis does appear you will still be better able to deal with it and recover by the training already done. Take a good look at yourself. In the vital areas of life are you TRYING or really TRAINING? Make the choice today to TRAIN and reap the benefits tomorrow and for years and years to come.

Homework Headaches

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Successful homework sessions don’t just happen. A little effort, planning and support make the difference between the headache, frustration and battleground around the completion of homework and the peaceful smooth sailing episode of your dreams.

The Real Headache – Afternoon headaches can be symptomatic of numerous causes. Getting to the cause is vital. A chiropractic examination or check-up will determine if there is misalignment of the neck, shoulders or other part of the spine – a common cause of headaches. Many times, there is immediate relief. Is the book bag or backpack too heavy? Did an injury occur during practice or rehearsal? Is dehydration possible? Is an essential vitamin or mineral missing from meals? Address the cause as soon as possible. Some chiropractic practices offer nutritional recommendations in addition to spine and nervous system services.

Study Skillset
Set Up – Arrange the study area to allow focus, good posture, and time management. Eliminate distractions and the battle stations structure. Successful homework sessions begin and end positively so determine what works for the best long term benefit. Good set-up includes a reset of thoughts. If today was a challenge, remember that tomorrow is a new day. Recalling successes, big or small, that occurred through the day help redirect discouragement and fatigue.

Stretch – Sitting for extended time can cause discomfort, a fidgety feeling, and a sense of boredom. Set a timer or alarm as a reminder to stand up and stretch, walk around the room, climb up and down the flight of stairs and breathe deeply. While standing, rest your eyes by looking out the window or simply closing them briefly. If it is a challenge to sit or concentrate, ask when the last chiropractic exam or checkup was scheduled. There can be pressure on a nerve or misalignment without pain that causes dis-ease in organs, systems or functions.

Snack – Keep nutritious snacks on hand to regulate blood sugar and help with concentration. Avoid sugary foods. Water is essential. Herbal tea may help de-stress from the day. If eating for the sake of “something to do while studying” is a habit, make changes now and snack sensibly. Avoid using food as a reward. View it as fuel to keep the engine running.

Reset – During the break, check your calendar and arrange the next chiropractic appointment to reset focus on the mind-body connection. This action can be a huge reward at the following homework session. After a break, do a “reset” with good intention and purposeful thought. Mark off what has been completed. Set a new goal for the next segment of the homework or study session. Reset the alarm or timer.

Success Awaits – The familiar saying, “They didn’t plan to fail. They failed to plan.” speaks as a reminder that in the same way homework won’t do itself, the body needs help to perform at its best. Small steps and small changes lead to achieving goals of all types. Contact us today to assist you in reaching yours.

Calming Digestive Stress

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Digestive stress is a frequent visitor in many households during the holidays. Diets change, as do sleep and work habits. People will blame these lifestyle changes for the digestive stress they are experiencing, and while this can be partially true, there often is an underlying cause in the spine and nervous system.
How can this be? Simple…

The nervous system controls your digestion and every other function of your body. A vertebral subluxation or a spinal injury that interferes with the normal function of your nervous system in the area that is responsible for healthy digestion can cause many types of digestive stress.

A case study in 2003, published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, revealed that a 32-year-old female patient had her chronic condition of colitis relieved when subluxation was detected. Another case study from the same source reported that of 17 Crohn’s disease patients who received spinal adjustments, 12 showed long-term and stable remission. The findings concluded that vertebral subluxation is a common and characteristic finding in patients with Crohn’s disease and allergies.

In another published case study, a young woman had been afflicted with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, symptoms once or twice a week for five years. After one adjustment, she noticed an easing of symptoms and within a short time all of her digestive problems disappeared. When the report was published two years later, she was still symptom free.

Many people deal with stress through deep breathing, meditation, exercise and healthy food choices. These are all very good things to do as part of your lifestyle to counter-balance stress, but if your nervous system is pre-stressed from subluxations, the slightest deviation from the “perfect” stress management plan can send you into a frustrating, uncomfortable, or painful digestive tailspin.

Research shows that it only takes the weight of a dime to reduce nerve transmission. Additional research has found that nerve compression can exist without pain and can cause deterioration within two weeks. In this pre-stressed condition, your body becomes more vulnerable to outside stresses while other people who are subluxation free may be much more resistant to stress.

Crisis care is one way to deal with stress by only receiving chiropractic care when you are hurt. A better option is to make the critical transition to Lifestyle Care, keeping your nerve system healthy all the time. This will help you to stress less, live more, and enjoy the quality of life you deserve for 80, 90, 100 years and beyond.

How Stress is Affecting You

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April is National Stress Awareness Month. Have you ever wondered why stress affects everyone differently? How is stress affecting you?

It is well documented that high levels of stress can contribute to heart disease, cancer, headaches, ulcers, backaches and nearly every condition known to mankind. How can stress cause so many unique problems in different people especially since the stress reaction is the same for everyone?

Stress is a nerve system reaction that causes your heart to beat faster, your muscles to be tense, your stomach to tighten, and your hair follicles to stand up, all as a way to prepare your body for an emergency. When you interpret a situation as stressful, whether it truly is or not, your brain triggers this reaction by sending a signal over your spinal cord and nerve system to every cell of your body. In prehistoric times, this would have been the perfect reaction to escape from a hungry dinosaur, but in today’s stress filled world and no Tyrannosaurus Rex, this chronic reaction can cause pain, sickness and disease.

Where your body breaks down from stress may depend on whether or not you have a condition in your spine known as vertebral subluxation. A vertebral subluxation is a spinal injury that interferes with the normal function of your nerve system which can affect your health on every level. If you have this condition in your spine, your body is already pre-stressed.

Many people deal with stress through meditation, exercise and healthy food choices. These are all very good things to do as part of your lifestyle, but if your nerve system is pre-stressed, the slightest deviation from the perfect stress management plan can send you into a frustrating, uncomfortable, or painful tailspin. Removing this pre-stress causing subluxation can improve your resistance to daily stressors dramatically.

Research shows that it only takes the weight of a dime to reduce nerve transmission. Additional research has found that nerve compression can exist without pain and can cause deterioration within two weeks.

In this pre-stressed condition, your body becomes more vulnerable to outside stresses. The location of the subluxation can determine what types of symptoms, if any, you experience. For example, someone with nerve interference in the upper part of the neck might feel headaches, have allergies, or a stiff neck. Because the nerve fibers that come out of the upper neck also go to the entire body, pressure here can literally cause or mimic nearly every symptom or disease you can name.

Interference to the nerves in the lower back may cause a backache, leg problems and also affect ovary, prostate, bladder or bowel function. Interference in the middle of your back may affect your heart and lungs or cause tension, stomach problems, and digestive disturbances.

Like most serious conditions, vertebral subluxations can cause stress for decades without any symptoms. The birth process, childhood falls, sports injuries and poor lifestyle habits are just a few causes of subluxations. Rather than getting to the cause and removing this underlying problem, many people attempt to chase their symptoms away with drugs, or another type of quick fix, and then wonder why their condition returns. Removing the cause and optimizing the function of your nerve system is a better immediate and long-term plan.

Regardless of your symptoms, a chiropractic examination can locate pre-stressed areas in your spine that may be affecting your health on every level. Don’t wait for a crisis.

Lifetime Effects of Birth Trauma

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Birth Trauma May Occur Frequently
Traumatic Birth Syndromes are more common than you might think. A German medical researcher discovered that over 80% of the infants that he examined shortly after birth were suffering from injuries to the cervical spine, the neck, causing all types of health problems.

Believe it or not, there are 44 countries with a better infant mortality rate than the United States according to the 2012 CIA Factbook.

Dr. Abraham Towbin, from Harvard Medical School and the Department of Pathology found that ‘the birth process, even under optimal conditions, is potentially a traumatic, crippling event for the fetus.’

“Spinal cord and brain stem injuries occur often during the process of birth but frequently escape diagnosis.” Dr. Towbin continues, “In severe instances death may occur during delivery or, in cases where respiratory function is depressed, a short period after birth. Infants who survive the initial effects may be left with severe nervous system defects.”

Symptomatic vs. Asymptomatic
What about the babies that don’t show immediate signs and symptoms? What if the signs and symptoms don’t appear until later on in life? What is the effect on that infant’s potential to express itself completely and wholly as a human being? What kind of symptoms and diseases could it cause later on in life?

The neck is an area of the body that cannot afford to have an injury remain uncorrected. Since injuries here can affect the brain stem, all the vital functions of the body are inhibited. This can occur whether there are symptoms present or not.

Neck Injuries Can Affect the Entire Body
Do you remember what happened to Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman in the movies? He was riding his horse and fell on his head, breaking a bone in his upper neck.

In interviews after his injury, it was clear that he was unable to breathe without the use of a ventilator machine. He also was unable to control his elimination system. Many of his other bodily functions were altered. “How could this be?” you might ask, “He didn’t hurt his lungs, his bowel, or his bladder. He hurt his neck.”

This is precisely the point. When the neck is injured, the entire body is affected. When there is an injury to the spine, the organs and systems supplied by those nerves become dysfunctional. These injuries, which are very often vertebral subluxations, can alter the course of a person’s life if not immediately corrected.

A healthy spine and nervous system will ensure your baby’s development during every stage of their life. Don’t wait for a crisis. Make an appointment to have a spinal examination performed by a chiropractor who is trained to find and correct these injuries whether they are symptomatic or not.