Thanks for jumping in! Happy April Fools Day! You are no fool however for reading along. Big message for you here. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think it may help! Click ‘read online’ above to find prior newsletters covering other aspects of your health!

The Stress Epidemic

We went and made the world so very complicated. And it seems to get more complicated every day. Just about everybody is stressed over something—politics, money, taxes, relationships, illness, careers. All of these and more have become contentious subjects that stress us out. We feel the effects deep in our guts. We suffer the negative effects on our sleep, our moods, and our ability to peacefully juggle all the balls life throws at us. And none of these stressors seem like they are going away any time soon. And because we can be stressed out continuously, our bodies eventually become damaged by the chemicals our brain makes in response to stress. That is the bad news.

The good news is that there are things we can do to help us cope and dampen-down the ill effects. We’ll look at two of them here. One of the, buy the way, you are already benefitting from when you get chiropractic care.

Our brains are extremely complex organs—ones we have a very long way to go in order to fully understand. What we do know is that there are parts of the brain that are assigned various functions. The part of the brain that responds to stress is called the limbic system. When we perceive a threat of some kind the limbic system produces the biochemistry of fight or flight., while the higher brain functions in the pre-frontal cortex responsible for complex thinking, decision making and regulation of emotions are ramped down.

The limbic response was only supposed to be a short-term brain state—a response that gives you the body chemistry needed for ‘fight or flight’ when faced with a physical danger. But our limbic system does not know the difference between the threat of a wild animal, and the threat of unpaid bills, or a rotten relationship, or a mean boss. And so many of us stay in a limbic dominant state, and the subsequent brain chemistry over time damages our hearts, our blood pressure, and produces chronic inflammation—the root of most all diseases! And while this goes on we have less use of the pre-frontal cortex that does all the great stuff for us just described above.

What can we do!

A secret no more. In recent years studies have demonstrated how chiropractic adjustments have a positive effect on brain function. They show how getting adjusted increases activity in the pre-frontal cortex, while chemical markers associated with the stress response go down. Example:

Cerebral metabolic changes in men after chiropractic spinal manipulation for neck pain (2011)

So…

In addition to all the standard benefits of getting adjusted, like pain relief, freedom of movement, etc., here is another very good reason to use this kind of care as a wellness tool. A monthly adjustment just for the sake of wellness can really pay off for those of us under a lot of stress!!!

Let me make this easier for you!

***If you are an established patient here, and you call for an appointment for a ‘stress relief adjustment’ by the end of this week only, we’ll knock $10 off the normal cost of the adjustment for you!!! Just mention this newsletter offer when you call. You can then judge for yourself how you feel and function afterwards. Expect less tension, easier breathing and a much better night’s sleep!***

What else can we do?

If you have daily stress, you need daily stress relief. And while it would be great for business, most of you can’t show up here every day for a stress reduction adjustment. Not very practical. You can help yourself daily however, and one thing you can do is something like ‘guided imagery.’ YouTube is literally crawling with different versions of this you can experiment with to find what resonates best with you. They all involve sitting back, closing your eyes, and allowing the narrator to take you on a journey in your mind designed to cast off the day’s burden of psycho-emotional stress. Very life giving. Go to YouTube and sample a few. They are all free.

ON THE LEVEL

The two (not so secret anymore) methods I’ve listed for you here are a good starting point for building up an arsenal of weapons to fight the daily onslaught of stress. Stress of the nature described here is truly a life-sucking phenomenon. Mental and physical health are at stake. Self-help in this matter is always the key to coping; however, we would love to help you with a periodic stress reduction adjustment! I’ll have more tools for you in subsequent newsletters!

Until next time, blessings to you !