What keeps you healthy?
Eating right, exercising, coping with stress, getting adequate rest.
And?
Maybe the missing item on your wellness checklist is chiropractic care.
Research points to a strong tie between a healthy immune system and a healthy nervous system.
I believe in a top-down, inside-out approach to health. In other words, a virus or noxious stimulus bombards us, and it is the environment within us that can either fend off or succumb to that attack. Which will explain why, in a room of people exposed to a cold/flu, why some people get sick and others do not. It is their bodies’ ability immunologically to respond to exposure and resolve it.
If you want something stronger than any medication, that is all natural, 100 percent good for you and makes you healthier you need to nurture and support your inner environment and immune system.
Chiropractic care is a pillar of that support.
If you receive consistent, quality chiropractic care, you will feel better. Regular chiropractic care will help you sleep better, help with digestion, help with energy. Think of it like a set of twins, one of whom who takes vitamins and one of whom doesn’t. Over 20 years, the twin who takes vitamins is going to be healthier. It is not something you see overnight, but rather a cumulative effective of a healthy lifestyle.
My belief is the immune system is the regulatory system of the body. It is the master control that tells the body what to do, rather than the other way around. Without a healthy, working immune system, you cannot heal. Without a healthy, working immune system, your aches and pains are not going to get better.
When we hear sick, we think virus. But there’s more to it than that. Low back pain, headaches, healing from surgery. The immune system tackles all those issues, too. Think about it. When we’re coping with those issues, or even when we’re just sick with a cold or flu, we get tired, we get lethargic, we can’t get out of bed. That’s our immune systems pulling the reins back on our bodies. It down regulates us on purpose and uses the energy to start to heal.
For me, the most important thing anyone can do to be healthier, feel healthier, is to address what is causing the down regulation of the immune system, NOT the aches and pains. And just like the twin in our vitamin example who had a cumulative health effect, so, too, do all of us from our environment around us. People have a lot of things bombarding them every day, stress and toxins chief among them. And the body responds. Our immune systems are in rein-back, down-regulate mode for years.
It is called the Seyla Response, named for Dr. Hans Seyle, who found a correlation between stress and immune function. The more stressed we are, the more our body ramps up to counterbalance it. Once the stress goes away, we get sick. The body finally has a chance to heal and our immune system is at ease, so to speak.
Stressful events lead to sickness and corresponds to our aches and pains and our overall body function. An example would be the holidays. When we’re prepping for vacation, worried about work, the visit with the in-laws, the holiday parties at which we’re eating bad food (and lots of it), it is cold outside. And guess what, when it’s all over, we get sick. It is a short-term example of the cumulative effect of stress on our immune system.
I feel the next step in someone getting better, getting over their chronic pain, is addressing the immune system. The stronger we can make our immune system, the better chance we have to heal and optimize our health.
So how do you boost your immune system? Go back to that checklist at the beginning.
We monitor our stress and try to control it. And, yes, I know that’s easier said than done. Simple strategies that might work include labeling our stressors or making a list of them, not taking on more responsibility or taking on one more project, and, of course, seeking counseling. Respect yourself and your need for downtime.
We limit the amount of toxins we’re exposed to in the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe and the environment around us.
We eat right. Nutrition is important. So is eating clean. We feed our body adequate nutrition with less herbicide, less pesticide. Think more organic, less inflammatory foods. We get adequate rest. And we get chiropractic care.
What I do as a chiropractor is remove interference, so the nervous system can work better and can better communicate with the immune system.
If you find yourself chronically sick, always getting sick, experiencing chronic pain, dealing with sleeplessness or just “off,” taking these steps can help you get there. Giving yourself the stability to adapt to changes allows your immune system to work for you rather than against you and the better chance you have of reducing or eliminating those chronic problems in your life.
Regular and consistent chiropractic care can be a step toward that goal. I encourage you to give it a try by calling me for an appointment today. Don’t wait, because even though spring is nearly sprung, there are still plenty of forces working against our immune systems.
About Harris Chiropractic
My goal is to create an efficient, low-overhead clinic that is simple and stress-free to own and operate, so I can focus my efforts on you, the client and patient. Harris Chiropractic is about regeneration…it’s about a new you. I want it to be a safe-house for you, your friends, and your family. I chose to focus my clinic on the patient vs the practice. I wanted a client-centered approach to care and patient-driven therapy. Although getting fast relief from pain and immobility are crucial, I do my best to teach you how to take care of yourself so you can stay healthy and prevent further injury rather than telling you what to do or providing a quick fix.
