Blog Category: Foundational Health

Apparently, winter has NOT PASSED US BY! Chances are if you haven't gotten the flu, you know someone who has.

The last several weeks, we have been exploring practical ways to activate your nervous system, both physically and mentally. This is part of a larger series we started on practical and reasonable ways to regain and retain overall health. This week, we are going to conclude this section and the entire series by talking about how to reduce physical stress on the nerve system. Who couldn't use a little less stress in their lives?

This week, we are going to cover some ways to mentally nourish your nerve system, specifically: The Autonomic & The Frontal Lobes of the Brain.

Last week, we talked about three ways to nourish the nervous system: 1. Physical Activation, 2. Mental Activation, and 3. Reducing Mechanical Distortion. This week, we are going to concentrate specifically on Physical Activation.

If you are just joining us, we are wrapping up our series on Secrets From The Vault. We started out this year looking at some real world ideas and applications for getting and staying healthy that include: Diet, Rest, Exercise, & Sound Nervous System. We explored the concepts of Margin and Built-ins as a way to consistently integrate good habits before going on and looking at some of the biggest bang for the buck approaches to stress reduction, diet, and exercise. Fittingly for a chiropractor, I am going to wrap things up over the next few weeks by looking at what it means to have a sound nervous system!

There is no one exercise that is best for everyone. What is an enjoyable exercise to one person may turn out to be a suffer-fest to another! You may hate running and I might find hours of yard work (yes, that does count as exercise) mind-numbing, but that is okay! Last week, we talked about how exercise must involve work in order to effect a change in our bodies, but doesn't necessarily have to involve struggle. We also saw that, if you find something you enjoy doing, even the "work" portion of exercise can be enjoyable!

We are getting close to wrapping up the series we started at the first of the year on practical ways to get and stay healthy. You will recall that Minimum Effective Dose, or M.E.D., is the least amount of something needed to affect a change. That doesn't mean that you never "amp it up," but, often times, when we try to do too much too soon, we either get hurt or discouraged because the outcome is not meeting our expectations! If you want to really affect a permanent change, your best bet is to start with small steps and gradually increase!

I have faced my fair share of diet challenges in life like most of you. One of them is the picture above: Dr. Sue is an amazing cake maker and she also makes some pretty amazing chocolate-coated strawberries! This week, we are talking about how to apply the Minimum Effective Dose (M.E.D.) to our diets. M.E.D. is the concept of applying just enough of something to effect a positive change. M.E.D. is really a way to get right to making changes in our lives without overthinking or planning things. Think of it as looking for the biggest bang for your buck.

If you are just joining us, we are working our way through a New Years series on a practical approach to improving the following four health parameters: Rest, Exercise, Diet, & a Sound Nervous System. We set the stage for the series by exploring Rest through the concept of Margin. Margin really gives us permission to create a space in our lives for the things that matter by starting to let go of all of the things that don't.

Last week, we looked at the concept of Margin as it relates to health. Richard Swenson, M.D. defines margin as: “Margin is the space between our load and our limits and is related to our reserves and resilience. It is a buffer, a leeway, a gap; the place we go to heal, to relate, to reflect, to recharge our batteries, to focus on the things that matter most." We are exploring margin under the Rest portion of our winter blog series on recovering and retaining health.