Survival of the Holiday Season

Holiday Survival

The holidays seem to come earlier and earlier every year -- and along with them, the stresses and strains of frenzied holiday shopping. Take a stroll through your local mall, and you'll already see symbols of the approaching holiday season -- from Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations to notices of blowout sales. As your muscles tense with each passing day, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) asks, "Are you ready for the holiday shopping challenge?"

"Our bodies have the capacity to do a little more than we normally do," says Dr. Scott Bautch, past president of the ACA's Council on Occupational Health. "But our bodies do not adapt very well to doing a lot more than we normally do. Since the added demands of this season can stress the capacity of our bodies, we need to do everything we can to help ourselves. Eat right, drink plenty of water, stretch, exercise and take a few minutes to slow down and reflect on what the season is all about."

So relax and enjoy the holidays! Dr. Bautch and the ACA encourage you to consider the following tips to help keep you and your loved ones healthy, happy and safe this season.

Treat Holiday Shopping As An Athletic Event

• Stay hydrated! Drink eight to ten 8-ounce glasses of water a day. (Coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcohol are dehydrators. Don't substitute them for water.) On shopping days, you may need to drink even more water.
• Be sure to stretch before and after a long day of shopping. When you are stressed-out, your muscles are less flexible than usual.
• Wear shoes with plenty of cushioning in the soles to absorb the impact of walking on those hard shopping mall floors.
• Make sure your clothing is as comfortable as possible. It's a good idea to wear layers, because you may be going from a cold environment (outdoors) to a warm environment (indoors).
• Leave your purse at home. Wear a light fanny pack, or if necessary, a light backpack instead. Pack only those items that are absolutely essential (driver's license, credit card, etc.).
• If you start to feel some pain, nip it in the bud. Apply an ice bag to the affected area for 20 minutes, then take it off for a couple of hours. Repeat a couple of times each day over the next day or two.

"During the holiday season, we're running at absolute maximum capacity, which can lead to stress and even depression," says Dr. Bautch. "We need to stretch and stay hydrated to increase our capacity, so we are not overwhelmed by the activities of the season."

Plan Frequent Breaks Into Your Shopping Day

• During a day of heavy shopping, most people should take a break every 45 minutes. Those with less stamina may even need to take breaks more frequently.
• If possible, obtain a locker. Lockers can help cut down dramatically on how much you have to carry around. You can take a load off by scheduling trips to your locker into your breaks.
• If your mall or shopping center doesn't offer lockers, try to plan trips to your car. Don't carry around more than is absolutely necessary at one time.
• When taking breaks, try to eat light foods. A salad and some fruit is a much better option than a burger and fries.
• Skip the coffee break! Coffee and sodas contain caffeine and sugar, which add even more stress to your body. Pass on the designer coffee at the java stand and keep drinking water.

"We actually need to eat better than normal during the holiday season," explains Dr. Bautch. "On average, people gain five to six pounds during the holidays. And heart attacks occur more often during the holidays as well. Eating a heavy meal and then running out on an exhausting shopping trip can be very dangerous."

Shopping With Children

• If at all possible, DO NOT bring children along on a holiday shopping trip. Most children simply do not have the stamina for such an event, and you and your child will only become frustrated with one another. Don't add this type of stress to an already stressful situation.
• Try to split "child duty" up with a spouse or another parent. They'll watch your kids while you shop, and vice-versa.

"Shopping with children is just a bad idea," says Dr. Bautch. "If your hands are loaded with shopping bags, you may not be able to hold your child's hand, which could increase the chances he or she might wander away from you. Take whatever steps necessary to not have to bring your child along."

Wrapping Your Gifts

• Since there is no "ideal" position for wrapping gifts, the most important thing to remember is to vary your positions. For example, try standing at a table or countertop for one package, sitting on a bed for another, sitting in a comfortable chair for another, etc.
• Do not wrap packages while sitting on the floor. Wrapping packages while sitting on a hard floor can wreak havoc on your posture, and should be avoided.
• Always stretch before and after you wrap gifts.

"When wrapping presents, it's a good idea to 'stretch the opposites,'" says Dr. Bautch. "In other words, if you are leaning forward when wrapping your gifts, stretch backward when you are done."

Chiropractic Care Can Help

If you experience pain or discomfort as a result of holiday shopping, consider a visit to your doctor of chiropractic. Your doctor of chiropractic can help alleviate your pain naturally, so you can enjoy the holiday season as it was meant to be.

Information provided by American Chiropractic Association

Introducing Our New Chiropractor to Magna: Dr. Gabe

Not So Happy Meal

Can You Guess When This Was Purchased?

A. Yesterday

B. Last Week

C. 2 Months Ago

 D. 8 Months Ago

 

Click Here To Find Out The Answer!!!

From Dr. Hawley: A Gift From My Friend Dr. Rick Markson

A Carrot, an Egg, and a Cup of Coffee

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Dr. Rick Markson

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up.  She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see?” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” replied the young woman.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

Which are you?’ she asked her daughter. ‘When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I?  Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?  Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity?  Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.  Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

You might want to send this message to those people who mean something to you; to those who have touched your life in one way or another; to those who make you smile when you really need it; to those who make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down; to those whose friendship you appreciate; to those who are so meaningful in your life.

May we all be COFFEE!!!!!

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Want To Improve Your Child's Health? Try Chiropractic Care...

Why would a parent not take a child to see a chiropractor? The basic answer might come down to no information or incorrect information.

Here are three basic reasons why not: 
1. They don’t know about Chiropractic. 
2. They don’t know about the potential benefits of Chiropractic. 
3. They think that a Chiropractic adjustment might be too rough for a child and cause pain or damage.

Once a person finds out about Chiropractic and begins to understand its benefits, it is point number 3 that must be understood and dispelled, as apparently, some parents think that a Chiropractic adjustment will be “too rough” for their youngster.

Chiropractors understand that all bodies are different and tailor their adjustments and the amount of pressure required based on the individual they are treating. A big football playing man in his 20s, a little old woman in her 70s and a child of 10, will all be looked at and evaluated for their individual needs.

In this way, it could be said that a Chiropractic adjustment can be as individual as a handshake. A strong man shaking hands with another strong man will give him a lot more pressure than if the same man was shaking hands with his grandmother or the child. When parents realize this and bring their child in for an adjustment, the results can be quite remarkable. 

Consider this case of a 7-year-old girl:

This child had been suffering from asthma since the age of 4. By the time she came to see a chiropractor, she had been treated medically with 10 different medications. Attacks of coughs and wheezing were daily occurrences. Physical activity was almost out of the question. Emergency room visits sometimes reached 5 per year. A test of lung capacity revealed she was operating at about 50 percent of her lung capacity.

An exam by her chiropractor revealed subluxations (partial dislocations) in the vertebrae at the middle of her spine. An individual program was tailored to handle these restrictions. With just one adjustment, some of the tightness in her chest disappeared and her coughing was reduced. After just 4 weeks of treatment, she was able to put aside her inhaler and get back to participating in swimming and running sports. After 3 months, her lung capacity was just about normal and all medications were stopped.

Had her parents avoided taking her to a chiropractor because of a fear that an adjustment might be too rough and cause her pain, the child might well be on her way to a dozen more medications, further restrictions of activity and even worse breathing problems.

Is Chiropractic for children too? By all means. Miracles can occur each and every day in Chiropractic with the right adjustment, tailored to the individual’s size, age, shape and need.

From The Doctor's Desk: Understanding Your Body

From the Doctor's Desk

Hello all,

This is a rare MAGNA newsletter in the fact that I am personally writing it. As most of you know, I normally don't get involved with the distribution of the newsletters but I wanted to share something that I discovered recently that made a lot of sense to me and I wanted to pass it on in hopes of enlightening our MAGNA patients and their families.

I was doing some research for one of my upcoming seminars and stumbled across some interesting facts on cell reproduction. It is best broken down this way. Our body as a whole is made up of systems, then organs, then tissues, then finally down to individual cells. So far science cannot predict the amount of cells an individual has due to the dying and reproduction process that is occurring instantaneously, but there are billions upon billions of cells in our bodies.

Science has estimated that we replace approximately 30 million of these cells every minute of every day! The "system" that controls how and when this is done is the nervous system. It is the chief architect and conductor that makes sure all the repair work done on our cells is complete and accurate. We don't want to produce substandard or faulty cells do we?

Yet that is precisely what we are doing and not even realizing it! How you may ask? Let's look at it this example:

Our brain sends a signal to the gallbladder to start replacing and replenish the dead and dying cells. It sends the signal down our spinal cord to the proper level (the 4th thoracic vertebrae level-also known as T4) where it reaches the nerve that travels to the gallbladder. Once it reaches its destination, the signal gets decoded and new cells are formed. This "signal" provides all the information that the new cell's DNA will need, much like a construction blueprint.

 

This is what I learned in chiropractic school years ago, on many different levels, but here is what I missed and didn't piece it together until recently.

What if one of our loved ones was playing ball and slid roughly into home plate? No problem, but what if they twisted enough to rotate the T4 vertebrae? (some of you patients have seen things like this on the x-ray) They may not have any pain, but what if that twisting causes the muscles surrounding the vertebrae to tighten, inflammation to occur and that combination put pressure on the spinal nerve at that particular segment. This can cause a decrease or sometimes increase in nerve signal. Now guess what happens when the brain sends information to replace the gallbladder cells that information will be distorted and faulty or "weakened" cells will be built. There probably won't be any symptoms associated with this at first, but over time if this isn't corrected this could lead to serious problems.

Why did this recently start making sense to me? It was because I have seen several thousand x-rays demonstrate poor biomechanics, scoliosis, rotated segments and more often than not patients will complain about symptoms associated with those areas. I've had several patients say their children have symptoms like constipation, heart burn, bed wetting, allergies, and a host of other ailments not associated necessarily with pain. When they are examined more often than not there is a dysfunction in the area of the spine responsible for nerve supply to that involved area.

Effects of Spinal Subluxations 

So where am I going with all of this. I can tell you that now after realizing this I am encouraging you to bring in all of your family members to be checked on a regular basis to make sure there is no "interference", even though they don't have pain symptoms. I am telling all of my patients to at least get checked, and definitely get their children checked. Why run the risk of having them produce faulty cells that in the future will cause them problems. Why even take the chance!

In conclusion, whether you are a patient at MAGNA or a special someone that one of our patients has cared enough to pass this information onto you, I urge you to simply get you and your family checked. Just imagine all the organs and systems that the spinal system regulates and if there is just one small amount of information being lost we will be producing billions of faulty cells that make up our organs every day. Life is too short, and we are seeing too much disease from Cancer, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and hundreds of other pathologies that stem from "bad" cells.

One last thing, don't take my word for it...look for yourself. There is so much information out there about getting adjusted, nutrition, exercise, and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Your health is truly in your hands make the best of it.

Dr. Hawley

Tech Healthy Tips

Avoid text neck! Hold your device @ eye level.

The center of your computer monitor should be at eye-level. Put a book under your monitor if necessary.

Avoid BlackBerry thumb! Don’t text for more than three minutes without a break.

Try moving your computer mouse with your shoulder instead of your wrist.

Avoid neck strain by keeping your computer monitor an arm’s length away.

When using a gadget with a small keyboard, avoid typing for more than three minutes without a break.

Is all that texting a literal pain in the neck? Chiropractic care is a natural way to ease the pain.

Also, remember to:

Avoid using PDAs while in bright sunlight. Straining to see the screen leads to jutting the chin forward, shifting work from the spine to the muscles that hold up the head.

Break time! To counteract hunching over, stand up straight with your arms down at your sides. Turn your forearms until your thumbs are pointing at the wall behind you. Hold for 10 – 15 seconds.

Forward head posture (while texting) can result in diminished vital capacity of the lungs by as much as 30 percent. This shortness of breath can lead to heart and blood vessel disease.

Minimize the use of scroll wheels as they often cause inflammation of thumb tendons.

Computer users should also frequently look away from their screen and focus on something about 20 feet away. This provides a break for the eye muscles.

Don’t bend your neck excessively when texting; tuck your chin in instead and look down.

Incorrect posture and the excessive use of mobile devices can lead to neck, back, wrist and even thumb pain, in addition to other musculoskeletal issues. A doctor of chiropractic can teach you stretches and exercises that can help prevent pain and injury.

All information provided by http://www.technohealthy.com/, check them out for more information about healthy technology habits!

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- Get Involved! Email, Tweet, or Facebook us questions and topics to cover for future episodes.

- We appreciate your participation!

- For more information on this topic, visit our website listed below:

Magna Chiropractic

165 Natchez Trace, Suite 201

Bowling Green, KY 42103

(270) 746-9400

www.magnachiro.com