Time and Life

Time is as vital as life itself, yet time is different in relation to the laws of the universe.

Time is an element of eternity. It may be recorded in split seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, or even eons.

Life is a minor element of time shared alike by everyone. The only difference is the length of its span and purpose.

Time may be used either constructively or consumed to no advantage. Some people waste time; others mark time, unable to make decisions; some procrastinate with little purpose in life, not realizing that time once recorded is gone forever.

Time, like talents, must be invested wisely to bring about the best returns. Time wasted is like talents buried. No one profits, least of all the one who squanders his or her time to no purpose.

Time is of greatest value when organized and made to serve a dual purpose or multiple needs. The organization of time requires skill, thought, planning, and the elimination of lost motion so that a maximum of benefit may be obtained with a minimum of effort.

To appreciate time in its fullest measure requires normal health and cooperation with the laws of nature which govern all things in the universe.

Your body is said to be God's masterpiece. In a measure all the laws of nature are expressed therein through the various functions of the body. These functions are regulated and controlled through the medium of the nervous system that stems from the brain and spinal cord.

Anatomically, the spine is the strength and support of the body. It holds you erect; it supports the head that houses the brain. The spine also encases the spinal cord and provides openings between the vertebrae through witch all nerve bundles emit before separating into countless fibers that provide a medium of communication between brain cell and tissue cell, akin to an electric circuit between power plant or modern home.

To provide electric service, the circuit must be unbroken; in your body nerve channels must be clear so sensation can reach the brain freely enabling responding mental impulses to direct and regulate function in the glands, organs, and muscles of the body.

On occasions, due to spinal shocks and/or strains, nerves are "pinched". This in turn disturbs function, lowers resistance and in time can result in dis-ease regardless of the diagnosis or the treatment employed.

"People who live in glass houses might as well answer the doorbell."

Tackle Anxiety & Stress

When I ask my patients if they have anxiety symptoms, many of them deny it, but then they will say they feel "stressed." It is as though there is a negative stigma about the word anxiety.

Why is it that our society thinks it is abnormal to have some level of anxiety when the modern American life is so stressful? This anxiety is a natural response to alert us to the fact that there is something in our life that is causing ongoing stress to our body. It is an adaptive response to protect ourselves so that we can alter the trigger to prevent long-term damage to or drain on our body and health.

What we do with this physiological signal is what determines whether the anxiety ends up being harmful long-term or being helpful in altering the stressful event so as to maintain health. In short, what we do with anxiety is what's important.

When we feel stressed or anxious, it is our body's way of telling us that the current situation is not optimal for healthy functioning; that our body and mind don't like it and that it could cause negative health impacts in the long run. It is important for us to identify these situations because long-term stress can lead to adrenal fatigue and increased inflammation in our body, which leads to unhealthy states.

So, when we feel anxious, how can we overcome it? We need to remove the anxiety-provoking cause, and if we can't, we need to initiate adaptive behaviors so as to lessen the overall negative impact. Removing that cause is sometimes not possible (as is often the case with family members or work). In these situations, we have to find ways to lessen the stress and impact on our body from these stresses.

When we are anxious, our body's cortisol level rises, along with levels of several other hormones associated with stress. Cortisol is a stress hormone in our body; if it is secreted at elevated levels over time, it may lead to adrenal fatigue. Your adrenal gland is one of the organs that act almost like a battery in your body. When it is exhausted from chronic stress and anxiety, its overall function diminishes and your body's inflammatory status worsens, leading to a decrease in overall health and endurance.

By implementing intentional moments during the day of mind-body techniques, you can keep the adrenal strain and anxiety from being a constant drain on your health and give your body necessary periods of respite from the stress.

There are numerous versions of mind-body techniques. Examples include breath work, self-hypnosis, imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, biofeedback, and music therapy. I also discuss with my patients other treatment options such as manual therapies, including chiropractic and massage, that may decrease anxiety.

Should symptoms persist, we discuss supplements and/or herbs that may help to facilitate the calming process. There are a wide variety of herbs and supplements that may help with anxiety. For example, chamomile tea is calming, as is passionflower and hops teas, just to name a few. Certain supplements are also helpful for anxiety such as L-theanine, other amino acids, and various minerals, herbs, and vitamins.

There are multiple reasons for telling your doctor of your anxiety symptoms. Besides treating you according to their expertise, they can guide you in regards to the supplements you may need and refer you for mind-body therapies as well as behavioral therapy if that's what you want.

Another reason to inform your doctor about anxiety is that chronic stress can lead to worsening of many chronic conditions including heart disease, hypertension, and autoimmune diseases, just to name a few. This way, your doctor knows to keep a closer eye on these issues in case they arise; or if you already have these health issues, they can monitor you more closely.

Use the anxiety feeling as a signal that your body is not liking the situation you are in. Use your anxiety as a tool to help you figure out which situations are going to have a negative impact on your health and well-being. If the anxiety symptoms are too overwhelming, you can turn to your doctor for guidance to help you manage your symptoms and make sure a healthy, normal reaction to stress stays healthy.

Ultimately, the question I like to ask my patients is this: Would you drive your car across the country without any rest? Of course not. So, why would you drive your body at high levels of constant stress without doing something about it?

The human body is a powerful, magnificent machine, and we should treat it with all the gentleness and care that it deserves so each of it can continue to "drive" it for many more years to come.

Five Tips To Ease Anxiety:
1) Music. Use all of your senses to help you de-stress. If music brings you joy, incorporate that into your relaxation time. If certain scents help you relax, then relax in an environment where that scent predominates. Your senses can help you to maximize your de-stressing time!

2) Stretching. Make sure to take a few minutes every 1-3 hours to stretch, relax, and calm your mind. You can't run at top speed all day long every day, so remember to take time to slow down your mind and body. Your body will thank you for it!

3) Diet. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet full of vegetables, low sugar foods, omega-3's, and plant-based proteins like nuts. Eating at regular intervals with these healthy foods will help to keep your mood stable.

4) Exercise. Exercise raises endorphins in the body and is a great way to de-stress. So, put on your athletic shoes and go for a walk around the block even if you can't make it to the gym. Any exercise, even in short intervals several times per day, is beneficial to your mind and will help to calm anxiety feelings.

 5) Sleep. Sleep is essential for our body to achieve a state of balance and to avoid feeling stressed. Our body likes rhythm; that's why regular sleep hours and regular eating times are helpful in keeping the body running smoothly. Help your body achieve that feeling of equilibrium by making time to rest and eat regularly.

Ambition

Ambition is that something that urges you on to accomplishment. Ambition may be worthy or it may be selfish, but in either case it stirs you to action.

Napoleon's ambition was to conquer the world. Hitler had a similar ambition. They both failed because destiny looks after her own when men's hearts are strong.

Ambition may be for wealth or fame, it may be for beauty, service, justice, freedom, or even peace and good will. Great men and women in every age group have dedicated their lives to the welfare of mankind. Artists, writers, statesmen, prophets, and teachers are good examples, with the most noted of all being Jesus. He created no wealth, he owned no property, and was put to death as an impostor. Yet, his ambition for the good of mankind has survived and continues to grow as a shining light, a star to guide the destiny of men.

Ambition need not be of an outstanding nature to be considered great and worthy. Being a good parent, teacher, or child has its just rewards. Rendering a worthy service, setting a good example, or doing a kindness are always rewarding.

What is your ambition? Is it worthy, is it good, is it uplifting, is it something to be proud of? Or, is it lower than should be expected?

Perhaps you will use the excuse that your ill health has robbed you of your ambition and that you have to lean on aspirin and drugs to keep going. Is this really the truth, or is it an ignorant excuse? Have you ever given chiropractic an honest trial?

Our ambition is to be a lighthouse for those who suffer and are in search of health. We attempt to render a genuine health service for those willing to break away from the habit of taking drugs. Health, like ambition, comes from within and is expressed outwardly through the emotions and the nervous system of the body.

We stress the importance of the spine as the key to health and growth. Do it now!

NIACIN - Some Important Facts

Niacin is well known as the "cholesterol fighter in a bottle". A quote from long ago, "Niacin is the most inexpensive and effective internal cleansing mechanism known to man."

Following ingestion of niacin, one will expect "side effects" of itching and flushing of the skin. Please note that flushing is normal, and not an allergic reaction. It's what niacin does as it cleanses the body of toxins and poisons. The best side effect I experience is the calmness that follows a dosage.

Cardiovascular disease is significant killer in the United States, and it is frequently associated with high cholesterol. Our American diet, with fast food, toxin-loaded, refined sugar cholesterol-impregnated foods, is the frequent messenger of destruction and death.

In recent years, niacin has become widely used as a potent cholesterol fighter. Various studies indicate doses of niacin increase beneficial high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, lower harmful low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and decrease triglycerides. However, all too often extremely high doses of niacin are prescribed (usually 500 to 4500 mg/day). Those amounts are not necessary. I receive the same flushing reaction from 100 milligrams as I do for 500mg, thus, low dosages are what I recommend.

Studies conducted by scientists from Auburn University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Georgia Southern University, and the Hames Heart Institute (Claxton, Georgia), Professor Lefavi studied the serum cholesterol levels of healthy, college-age athletes. They found that cholesterol could be significantly lowered an average of 14 percent, and total cholesterol/HDL ratios improved by seven percent by merely adding only 200 mcg niacin supplement to their daily diets. These findings are even more significant when we note that subjects were classified as "normal," having cholesterol levels "within normal limits."

Early studies suggest that vitamin B3, or niacin, a common water-soluble vitamin, may help improve neurological function after stroke. When rats with ischemic stroke were given niacin, their brains showed growth of new blood vessels, and sprouting of nerve cells which greatly improved neurological outcome. Stroke is the third-leading cause of death in America and a leading cause of disability. Ischemic strokes occur as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain. Ischemic stroke accounts for about 87 percent of all cases.

One underlying condition for this type of obstruction is the development of fatty cholesterol deposits lining the vessel walls. Niacin is known to be the most effective medicine in current clinical use for increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), which helps get rid of those fatty deposits.

Therefore, research indicates that niacin is the hope on the horizon for cholesterol's cascading catastrophe. Niacin supplementation is a viable tool in everyone's daily fight against high serum cholesterol and our country's major killer, cardiovascular disease.

For your overall health, you might consider NOT stocking up on cheesecake, doughnuts, candy and other cholesterol-laden garbage. Instead, with this knowledge, go to your local chiropractor or health food store and purchase a natural form of niacin.

Kidney Stone Prevention

Prevent Kidney Stones With Lemonade?
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But what if life gives you kidney stones? For most people, a drug called potassium citrate is prescribed, but for those who can't tolerate potassium citrate's side effects or are allergic to certain medications, the results of a small study published at the American Urological Association's annual meeting indicate that lemonade may work just as well.

Kidney stones develop when minerals in the urine crystallize and build up inside the kidney. In most people, urine contains a chemical called citrate, which breaks down the minerals and prevents the stones from forming. In this study, researchers followed 12 people who suffered from hypocitrauria, a condition that causes a person to produce low levels of urinary citrate. Patients in the group drank lemonade made from 120 milliliters of lemon juice mixed with 2 liters of water throughout the day; small amounts of sugar or sugar substitute were added for taste.

Results showed that 11 of the 12 patients had increased urinary citrate levels during lemonade therapy. The kidney stones of the people taking lemonade therapy also decreased in size and number during the course of treatment. While lemonade may help reduce the incidence of kidney stones, it's only part of a larger program. Lowering the amount of salt in the diet, eating smaller portions of red meat, and increasing fluid intake can all help slow the formation of existing stones and prevent new ones from developing.

Cut Back On Salt
The biggest issue with consuming too much salt is its detrimental impact on high blood pressure and swelling of your extremities such as your ankle and feet. Salt draws water to it and can cause elevation of the pressure inside your blood vessels hence worsening blood pressure.

The kidney is very much affected by too much salt. When there is excess salt in your blood stream, your kidneys have to work harder to get rid of that in your urine and it's been suggested that with the increased salt load to the kidney filtration system, you may be at higher risk for kidney stones and mineral deposits to your kidneys. Beyond the direct effect of the salt, the high blood pressure generated by the salt can cause kidney disease.

Finally, even your bones are affected by the excess salt in your diet. There's evidence that suggests that extra salt in your diet can worsen your risks for osteoporosis. Since the excess salt in your blood stream needs to be filtered in your kidney and removed, there are other minerals that the salt may bind to or cause a shift in the filtration system such that higher levels of other minerals are also lost in urine because of the excess salt. One of those minerals is calcium. Therefore, if that's the case, it's been suggested that bone health is compromised with a diet that is high in salt.

People should aim for about 1500-2000 milligrams of sodium per day at most. By paying attention to what you are eating, Just that simple act will start to help you towards the road of eating a more balanced low sodium diet.

Keep diet and common sense simple and enjoy a long healthy life!  It works!

Can't Sleep; Try These Tips

If you want to maximize your health, wealth and youthfulness in the new year, start by sleeping the night away, soundly experts advise.

Lack of sleep runs up a high tab in injury and death on the highway and on the job, poor performance and reduced productivity in school and at work and, some studies suggest, increased susceptibility to ulcers, heart disease, obesity, depression and a host of age-related ailments.

With the dawn of a new year, the growing ranks of slumber scrooges should awaken to the costly and, at times, fatal consequences of skimping on sleep, and resolve to give their mind and body a richly deserved rest, scientists urge.

A UPI survey of 71 sleep specialists produced a number of suggestions that could lead you to the land of the sleeping. They include:

• Follow a routine of retiring and rising on a timeline that deviates by no more than two hours every day, even on weekends.
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, which suppresses deep sleep, within three to six hours, and heavy meals within three hours, of bedtime.
• Use your bed for resting or sleeping, not for doing extra office work, watching television or playing video games.
• Exercise moderately for 30 minutes daily, but no later than three hours before lights out.
• Sip warm milk, herb tea or other non-caffeinated drinks to raise body temperature. Also, try 3 to 5 dry saltine crackers (no water) before turning in for the night and help transport you to dreamland.
• Nibble on bananas, turkey, peanut butter or other foods rich in tryptophan, a compound that produces a natural sedative effect.
• Refrain from naps when you get home from work or school because they can reduce "sleep pressure" and, deter your subsequent ability to drift off for the night.
• Put work aside two to three hours before you go to sleep. Your mind has a tendency to focus on tasks you've recently focused on.
• If sleep fails to claim you within 20 minutes, get out of bed and read for a while, selecting soothing rather than stimulating material.
• Engage in massage, meditation, music, yoga, positive imagery, biofeedback, a warm bath or other techniques that help the brain kick back and unwind.
• Write a "worry list" of bothersome matters half an hour before bedtime and deal with it before your head hits the pillow.
• Keep the room quiet, dark and cool, and wear socks to sleep to keep toes toasty.
• Melatonin is a natural byproduct of your body, and induces sleep. Anything over 10mg is dangerous and you could face consequences. 3mg is suggested, and taken 20 minutes prior to bed. Thus, consult a doctor before taking melatonin. Take Melatonin only at bedtime, as it may produce insomnia if given at the wrong time.
• Dim the lights two to three hours and shut off the TV and computers 30 minutes before bedtime. Get out in bright sunshine for five to 30 minutes as soon as you arise to help set your brain's internal clock to your sleep-wake schedule.
• Enjoy and have sex. Studies and experience have identified sex as a sleep promoter.
• If slumber continues to elude you, I recommend a consultation with a sleep specialist.

Pregnancy and Chiropractic

Two of my patients are currently awaiting the arrival of new additions to their families. Adjusting women through pregnancy is one of the most rewarding parts of our work, because a healthier pregnancy means an easier labor and delivery, and a better transition for the baby into this life.

There are many stories regarding a traumatic birth, and the subsequent years of poor health suffered as a result. Many Moms are unaware that chiropractic care through pregnancy would have likely given these children a better start, and angry that they were unaware of this option prior to their conception.

Chiropractic care throughout pregnancy is not only safe, it is essential. We can look at the implications of subluxation from a bio mechanical, hormonal and neurological standpoint. It is easy for all of us to see postural changes through pregnancy; the center of gravity changes, the weight of the baby places increased pressure on the spine and pelvis, and towards the end of the pregnancy, changes are seen in gait pattern - the "waddle." What we can't see, are the millions of different hormonal changes and chemical reactions occurring both in the mother and the developing baby, all of which are controlled and coordinated through the nervous system.

Adjustments result in easier pregnancy, significantly decreased labor time, and assists new mothers back to prepartum health. In one study, women receiving chiropractic care through their first pregnancy had 24% shorter labor times than the group not receiving chiropractic, and multiparous subjects reported 39% shorter labor times. Thirty-nine percent-that's a massive difference. In addition, 84% of women report relief of back pain during pregnancy with chiropractic care. Because the sacroiliac joints of the pelvis function better, there is significant less likelihood of back labor when receiving chiropractic care through pregnancy.

Body position during delivery is also critical. Any late second stage labor position that denies postural sacral rotation denies the mother and the baby critical pelvic outlet diameter and jams the tip of the sacrum up to 4cm into the pelvic outlet. In other words, the popular semi-recumbent position places the laboring woman on her back onto the apex of the sacrum, which closes off the vital space needed for the baby to get through the pelvic outlet.

This delivery position is the main reason why so many births are traumatic-labor is stalled, the mom becomes fatigued and overwhelmed by pain, so the utilization of epidurals, forceps, episiotomy, vacuum extraction and cesarean increases. Just consider the analogy my husband uses-how hard would it be to have a bowel movement while lying on your back? You're right, very hard, and it may not happen. This is why squatting is the preferred position-gravity works to help and the pelvic outlet can open to a greater degree. Squatting during delivery results in decreased use of forceps and a shorter second stage of labor than the
semi-recumbent position.

Greater complications during delivery result in greater neurological insult to the newborn due to injury to the head and neck. Even after vaginal births, 4.6% of term neonates suffer unexplained brain bleeds and 10% suffer neonatal encephalopathy. Because so many children had been injured with forceps deliveries, (facial nerve palsy, tearing of cervical spine musculature) vacuum extraction was developed. Suction cups are placed on the newborn's head, and the baby is literally sucked out of the mother.

Vacuum extraction, when utilized, exerts 120 pounds of pressure going through the baby's head and neck. Decapitation occurs at 140 pounds of pressure, as an example to give you an idea of the high forces involved. Remember when you were a little girl or boy and there was a new baby you were being introduced to? Our parents always said, "Watch his head, you don't want to hurt him." We're careful because the fontanel's of the skull are so pliable, and the neck and brain are fragile and unprotected. This is why so many babies sustain injuries to their heads and neck during vacuum extraction-the force is far greater than their little bodies can tolerate.

Adjustments to newborns contain only ounces of force. But that force is directed into the spine to facilitate health and remove subluxations. We adjust babies as soon after birth as possible, to alleviate subluxations caused by in-utero constraint and the journey down through the birth canal. There has been a lot in the media lately about children not needing chiropractic care, but there is no better way to get a head start in life. As you all know, chiropractic care is not a cure for anything, it is a system of wellness to help us be who we're supposed to be. It is not a cure for ear infections, for colic, for allergies, for asthma, for frequent colds, nor for ADD/ADHD.

Every child should be checked, before problems with their health even develop. That's preventive care in the truest sense. This is why every woman needs chiropractic through pregnancy, so that the arrival of their baby is a "wonderful experience".