Active Family Chiropractic

Empowering Your Health

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Why it’s important to stay hydrated in the winter.

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Believe it or not, you can become dehydrated during the winter so it’s important to stay hydrated. Your body is almost 80% water. This means that every body function that you have requires hydration.

Whether it be digestion, excretion, circulation, any of the body systems that you can think of like your immune system and vascular systems all require water in perfect balance with electrolytes for your body to function, even your brain. Your spinal column has fluid in it as well, so everywhere in your body, there is fluid.

If you are sitting around in the winter and not exercising, you may think that you don’t need to drink water but you are wrong, because every body process requires water to function. Even when you breathe you are respirating. When you breathe out you are breathing out water droplets, it’s one of the by-products of respiration.

It’s important to drink water in the winter. Many forget to drink water in the winter because you may not sweat or you are less active. Instead, you may find yourself drinking more hot beverages like coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. These all contain caffeine which dehydrates so not only are people not drinking enough water because they are not sweating but they are increasing their dehydration by consuming more caffeine.

Many people will feel very lethargic and worn out in the winter. This may cause you to think it’s because of the lack of sun but it’s really because you’re dehydrated. You also may not realize it but heat is dehydrating so the fact that you’re spending more time indoors in a warm environment will dehydrate you in the winter as well. If your skin is dry on the outside your body is dry on the inside. Dry skin is a good indicator of dehydration.

During the winter it’s important to still have to consume at least half your body weight in ounces per day in order to keep your body functioning and not become dehydrated. If you find yourself drinking more hot beverages containing caffeine you need to drink the same amount of water to replace the water lost. Also, if you find yourself tired in the middle of the day, take it as a sign that you’re dehydrated and drink some water.

So this winter make it a point to drink water, even if you think you don’t need it, more than likely you do!

For more information as Dr. B at [email protected]

Tips for a healthier New Year.

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Happy New Year everyone! Let’s start the new year off right by establishing good habits. Here are some tips for a healthier new year.

Meet the four fundamental needs of your body.

#1. Your nervous system.

Without your brain telling your body what to do through your spinal cord, your body doesn’t function. If you’re not taking care of your spine through regular CBP (Chiropractic Biophysics) adjustments. Your spine cannot work at 100% or at it’s highest potential. As a result that can give you lower health, give you more physical problems, more pain, more limitations, and, less energy.

Many people think that to be healthy you need to just eat well and exercise but it’s more than that. However, it’s so much more than that and the first step is to get regular adjustments by a CBP chiropractor.

#2. Oxygen in your cells.

The best way to keep your cells oxygenated is through exercise and movement. That doesn’t mean you have to run marathons or do aggressive workouts. You are able to do this by walking, swimming, stretching, or just moving. That is how old cells in your body get replaced with new cells. That is also how you stay young and disease free. It is through the oxygenation of the body. The best way to oxygenate your body is through movement, aka exercise.

#3. Water intake.

To be healthier this year one of the best things you can do is to increase your water intake, slowly. If you increase your water intake too fast you will, more than likely urinate it out and it won’t be absorbed. The best thing to do is to sip it throughout the day. The goal for each person should be to intake half your body weight in ounces. That is your minimum hydration levels, needed to maintain good function in your body. Anything above that would be great! Anything below that means you are dehydrated.

Dehydration will help to slow down all of your body functions, which ultimately will affect your health. So, in order to be healthier, you have to get more water into your body. Make sure that if you are consuming beverages with caffeine you want to consume the same amount of water in addition to your daily minimum.

#4. Nutrition and eating the right foods.

This is different for everyone. Some people need to eat raw foods only and some people cannot eat raw foods because of their digestion. Some people can eat gluten and some people can’t, etc. Nutrition is not a single answer. Every person has to figure out what is going to work best for their bodies.

Your body will tell you whether or not it likes what you are putting into it. If you feel energized after you eat, if you feel healthier, if you feel good then you know you’re eating the right foods. If you are feeling gassy, or have heartburn, or any of those other signs of incomplete digestion then you’ll know that you are not eating foods that are good for your body. It’s a good idea to consult a registered dietitian in order to get a specific diet plan together.

Use these as a guideline

That’s the best way to be healthier in the new year. Working on these four fundamental needs listed above will help to give you a good foundation for building a healthier you for the new year. So make a plan to see a CBP chiropractor, drink more water, eat better for your body and move more!

For more information ask Dr. B @ [email protected]

 

 

 

 

How to manage stress during the holidays.

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The best way to manage your stress during the holidays is to make sure you’re meeting all of the fundamental needs of your body. First, you need to make sure that you get a CBP adjustment before you travel and when you get back. That way the adjustment will help to take away a lot of the stressors which come from sitting in airplanes, cars, and trains and just sitting in general.

The second step is to make sure that you are drinking ample amounts of water. A lot of people don’t drink enough water during the holidays. They tend to drink other things like alcohol, hot chocolate, and things that are dehydrating, so you want to make sure that your water levels are high.

Then you want to make sure that you’re managing your stress with some form of exercise. Whether it be yoga, running, or meditation, anything that is mental or physical exercise will be great for managing stress. Stretching when you get to your location and if you’re sitting a lot around the dinner table get up periodically. Move around, don’t get caught sitting on a couch for 5 hours.

You also want to make sure that you are eating as well as you can be. Even though the holidays tend to be very focused on sugar which is very bad for your body. You just want to be really careful about your sugar intake and making poor food choices and minimize those choices.

You can also take some extra vitamin C to support your body and some extra vitamin B complex is very good for anti-stress. B Complex is an anti-stress vitamin. B complex is really good for people who are under stress on a regular basis. Nowadays a lot of companies make something called adrenal support. This contains a lot of Bs, vitamin C and a lot of herbs that are helpful to support the adrenal glands because it is the adrenal glands that get overworked. Most Americans have overworked adrenal glands because of the stress levels we are under on a regular basis. Taking a supplement like that would be helpful to your body through times of stress.

Another thing you can do is to try to get quality sleep, whenever you can because that is when your body heals when you are sleeping. Lack of sleep can lower your body’s ability to handle stress.

There are other things that you can use to help with stress management, topical things. Lavender oil is very helpful for relaxing the body. Some people like melatonin to help with sleeping in a different place. There are a lot of teas out there that are helpful to relax the body, like chamomile.

Lastly, if you can detach from your electronics at least a half an hour before bed and do something that isn’t stimulating your brain as much like reading, praying, or meditating, doing something that would relax your body will make it easier to fall asleep.

So don’t stress out this holiday season and use this guide to help battle holiday stress. Make sure that you’re keeping up with your CBP adjustments and try to sneak an additional one in.

For more information ask Dr. B at [email protected].

Why might I have increased pain after an adjustment?

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Have you ever wondered why sometimes when you get an adjustment you might have increased pain? Sometimes people will have increased pain after an adjustment and one of the main reasons for this is dehydration.

A lot of people do not drink enough water and then they get an adjustment and their muscle responds to the adjustment, so they end up having a muscle spasm or some kind of muscular reaction. This can sometimes stay with a person for a while, presenting as a muscle ache or pain.

Another reason might be that other Chiropractors may put too much force into the adjustment. They may try to muscle through an adjustment because their technique isn’t as good and that can cause strained muscles.

Another factor might be tight muscles. At Active Family Chiropractic, patients are encouraged to stretch and warm up before getting an adjustment in order to loosen tight muscles. That way they don’t have muscular reactions to an adjustment.

However, pain after an adjustment is usually a cause of dehydration or a tight muscle. So drink a lot of water to stay hydrated and make sure to stretch before your adjustments.

For more information contact Dr. B at [email protected].

Heat Management & Hydration

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It’s summer, time for BBQs and playing outside. It’s also the hottest time of the year. It’s important to think of your heat management and hydration.

Can CBP Help with Heat Management?

In Corrective Chiropractic care (CBP), the goal is to get your spine as close to structurally normal as possible, which keeps the least amount of pressure on your nervous system. Your nervous system controls your whole body. It controls your circulatory system, your vascular system (your veins and arteries), it controls all of the messages in your body, so just about every cell in your body is controlled by your nervous system, which is encased in your spine.

In terms of heat management, your thyroid gland has a lot to do with heat control. People who have thyroid problems they are either too hot all the time or too cold, there’s no in-between for them. A lot of times people who have nerve compression to the nerves that control the thyroid gland or to the kidneys, which have a lot to do with water and hydration, if they have any pressure on those nerves and those nerves are not working at 100%, there is potential for problems.

What about hydration?

This time of the year, when it’s super hot out people are reaching for cold beverages, that aren’t necessarily water. They may be going for an iced coffee, iced tea, or a frozen drink, which is essentially ice, sugar, and potentially dairy. During hotter times, people could be reaching for ice and alcoholic beverages such as beer, because they think it cools them down. In fact, drinking something cold when you’re hot is counter-intuitive, because it can actually cause your body to shut down. If you’re hot you should be drinking luke-warm water or a luke-warm beverage. Beverages like coffee, tea, beer, and other alcoholic beverages take water out of your cells, which makes you more dehydrated. In order to stay hydrated, you want to steer away from these on hot days.

In order to stay hydrated, you need to consume about half your body weight in ounces. If you decide to have coffee or iced tea or even a beer make sure that you drink an additional 8-12 ounces of water per drink to counteract the dehydration effects of caffeine and/or alcohol. Also, make sure to add more water also if you are sweating.

How can dehydration effect me?

If you become dehydrated you will have the potential for your body’s systems to stop or to slow down. This can cause mental confusion, headaches, generalized aches and pains, and lethargy. It can also lead to kidney failure or diabetes if you don’t have enough water.

Along with water, it is important to have an electrolyte balance in your water. If you use a water source like a Britta, which filters out everything from your water, you can go to your health food store and by mineral drops, which you can add to your water. Make sure to stay away from drinks like Gatorade which is basically sugared colored water with salt, it does not have enough active electrolytes to be effective.

You can also find electrolytes in the foods you eat, such as bananas, oranges, and spinach. You want to look for foods that contain potassium, magnesium, and sodium. Eating these foods can help to replace lost electrolytes as well.

Taking care of your spine can help you manage the heat better.

If your nervous system, at the get-go, isn’t working well, because you are not getting your spine adjusted by a CBP chiropractor and you’re not having enough hydration on top of that, you’re going to have a really hard time managing heat. However, if you have regular CBP adjustments and drink a good source of water with electro-lights, you’ll find that you’ll be able to tolerate the heat much better than you had before.

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