Here in Bucks County, Pa. it’s been raining and cold for a month. Couple that with election negativity and it’s enough to give anyone a bad case of the winter blues. It’s natural to want to stay in and cozy up on the couch with a blanket.
The short days do affect your body and can affect your mood. You might know that sunlight regulates the naturally occurring serotonin and melatonin in your body. These chemicals regulate your sleep cycles, your mood, your appetite, and other important functions within your body. When they’re out of balance as often happens in the winter, you can feel tired and low-energy.
Couple that with the post-holiday doldrums and by the end of January, it’s common to be ready for a change.
Whether or not a warm weather getaway is in the cards for you this winter, here are four other tips for you to take care of yourself this winter.
1—Go Out– While your inclination may be to hibernate like a bear during the long, cold months, it’s better for you to make plans with friends and get out and do something you enjoy. Laughing is a mood booster.
2—Exercise – Another way to boost your spirits is keep your body active. Whether you enjoy yoga, Zumba, or Crossfit, find something you enjoy and make a point to get it into your calendar. Schedule make it tough to get to the gym? There are numerous online opportunities to participate in regular exercise including YouTube channels and subscription services. You can even make the most of the winter weather by strapping on some beginner snow skis and going to the nearest skiing facility to you to get some exercise. If it’s going to be cold and snowy, you might as well embrace it!
3—Chiropractic care – This can boost your immune system and keep you pain-free by removing nerve obstructions.
4- Eat more omega 3’s – salmon and spinach have high levels of the so-called “good fats.” These are fats that lower your cholesterol levels and boost your mood. You’ve probably heard of the health benefits of omega 3’s, they can even help your joints, memory functions and eyesight. You do want to get more of them in your diet. Most of these foods also contain an amino acid called phenylalanine and one of the phenylalanine benefits is that it gives you a mood boost. It’s available as a supplement too.
5–Get a SAD light — Millions of people living in cold climates suffer with SAD or seasonal affective disorder. It’s a very real depression state that can cause you to feel low energy and lack of motivation. Since you can’t make like a bear and hibernate for the next couple of months, you might try a special light. Sometimes called a “SAD” light, these are special lights that emit a broad spectrum of light missing during the dark winter months.
6 – Take Vitamin D – It can help alleviate the low levels of Vitamin D you typically get this time of year too. Your medical practitioner can make individualized recommendations based on your medical history.
The important thing to know is if it’s more serious than the winter blahs – meaning if you or a family member shows symptoms of depression — that you get the medical assistance you need.
In the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s common to feel like you have too little time and a to-do list that stretches to the North Pole. Between holiday shopping, travel, parties and your usual busy life, it’s a lot.
It’s important to incorporate a few simple stress relief tactics.
One of those you’ve been doing all your life.
Breathing.
It might sound a little crazy, but (consciously) breathing is the quickest way you can soothe your nervous system. Best of all, it doesn’t require any special equipment or knowledge. Just the awareness that you can use your breath to help you feel relaxed.
Here’s How to Use Your Breath to Calm Yourself
When you’re upset, you breathe shallowly. This stimulates your body’s fight or flight response which triggers a chemical cascade in your body dumping adrenaline into your body. This is fine if you’re running a marathon or otherwise need that level of pure focus for a short period of time.
Yet, living in a stressed out mode is terrible for you both mentally and physically, it results in inflammation throughout your body, lack of concentration, moodiness and a host of other unpleasant things.
Breathing deeply will help you flip this response. One trick is to set reminders on your phone throughout the day to remind yourself to take a minute or two to slow your breath. Simply breathe in slowly and deeply, count to 10 and then breathe out to a count of 10. This simple act automatically soothes your parasympathetic nervous system which is the part of your body that relaxes you.
When you start using mindful breathing techniques, you can slow your racing heart and remind yourself of what matters.
3 Other Ways to Manage Your Stress
Yoga offers mental and physical benefits no matter your age or physical condition. There’s a type of yoga for everyone including Yin Yoga where you lay on the floor using props like blankets and yoga blocks to relax deeply. Yoga is proven to improve focus and concentration.
Chiropractic Treatments – As a chiropractor, I obviously believe in chiropractic treatments. My family has used it for generations (my father was also a chiropractor) to treat everything from back pain to headaches and yes, stress. Chiropractic treatments can also improve your immune system. It’s a simple process of realigning your body.
Massage – Massage therapy can rub away your muscle aches and pains. It can also improve your range of motion and generally help you feel better physically and mentally.
If you’re in the Doylestown area, we have a wonderful massage therapist on staff at McQuaite Chiropractic and I would love to offer you a chiropractic consultation to see how we can help you.
This holiday season, take a few moments to breathe and incorporate simple stress relief tactics into your day. It’ll help you feel better and enjoy the season.
Here in Bucks County, Pa., we’re fortunate to have many chiropractors to choose from. Why, there are probably a dozen of chiropractic offices in Doylestown and they’re all good doctors.
So how do you choose? Many people choose their chiropractor based on referral, convenient hours, location, and insurance options. All are understandable reasons.
No matter who you choose, you might want a brief background in chiropractic treatments and conditions they treat since you want to be informed.
Chiropractic Care as Part of Your Health Plan
As you probably know, chiropractic care can help you with pain management whether it’s new issue – such as an athletic injury or chronic pain such as neck pain.
What you might not know is that chiropractic treatments aren’t just for back pain. They help you find headache relief, leg pain relief and even boost your immune system. Chiropractic care is a natural way of addressing your entire body which is why I’m a proponent of making it a regular part of your health regimen.
In fact, chiropractic care can even benefit children of all ages – including newborns. I’ve had the experience of helping some of my pediatric patients reduce allergy systems and asthma. Yes, all from realigning the spine.
Your Spinal Column at Work
Your spinal column is made up of 33 bones. Then there are ligaments, tendons, muscle, and millions of miles of nerves. Everything is connected and it’s perfectly normal to experience compression in certain sections of your body. Injuries and habits can both bring on pain.
I think you’ll agree that you have certain habits from sitting and standing. What you may not realize is that some of them may eventually prove painful. Let’s take sitting for hours at a computer. Most people’s computer set up isn’t ergonomic – your computer screen should be at eye level and your keyboard at a position that allows your wrists to be in a neutral position. When it’s not and you spend hours at the computer, it can take a toll on your body. You might find your wrists hurt, or your neck.
A chiropractic adjustment treats your whole body so you can feel relief from your hours at the computer.
Of course, any repetitive activity will cause your muscles to develop their habits. Some of those habits may cause your body to “favor” one side or the other – this can cause chronic pain later in life. In some cases, bones might shift out slightly and find themselves pinching a nerve. Chiropractic treatments make sure those bones are readjusted to where they need to be.
Traditional chiropractic care like that practiced here at McQuaite Chiropractic includes the stem treatment to relax your muscles followed by the classic chiropractic manipulations of your spine. That “cracking” or popping sound you may associate with chiropractors? That’s actually the release of a gas that’s built up in your joint. It’s not your bones at all and releasing this gas can give you immediate relief in many cases.
It’s true there are many chiropractic offices in Doylestown and we’re pleased to say we’ve won Best in Bucks four years in a row! Will you contact us for a free consultation?
Your body has more than 90 BILLION nerve cells. Each of these carries messages to other parts of your body. Those messages show up as sensations like neck pain or back pain.
If you’re prone to neck pain, you might wonder if you have a pinched nerve.
Like it sounds, it’s pressure on a nerve. Imagine your bones, ligaments, or tendons literally, squeezing your nerve. That nerve pain can send pain radiating through your shoulder or arm. You might find it painful to turn your head from side to side or experience numbness.
The medical term for a pinched nerve in your neck is cervical radiculopathy and symptoms include:
Numbness
Tingling or burning sensation
Muscle weakness
Pain radiating into other areas of your body, for example, a pinched nerve in your neck can cause shoulder or arm pain.
Why would a ligament shift position? There are many reasons, including poor posture, repetitive motions, injury, accident, etc.
As you may know, your body is in a constant state of adjustment. One adjusts for tiny airline seats, your bed, desk chairs, high heels, working at your kitchen table, the list goes on. In fact, virtually everything you do (or wear) requires your body to make some type of adjustment that pulls it out of alignment. Done often enough, you can start feeling like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Even if you don’t feel hunched over, you might still have trouble turning your head without pain.
You could also feel pinched nerve neck pain due to an earlier accident. Scar tissue or even pieces of bone can compress the nerve and an x-ray can show the exact problem. While you wouldn’t want to ignore neck pain, if you did, a pinched nerve could put you at risk for permanent nerve damage and chronic pain.
How Do You Treat a Pinched Nerve in the Neck?
As you know, your body is a complex machine and it may take more than one thing to relieve your pinched nerve neck pain. Here are some ideas for you.
Assess your habits. Do you need a better computer set up? Or a new pillow? As you probably know, the way you sit and sleep will affect your neck. Make sure it’s supported with an ergonomic work area and a supportive pillow.
Have a massage. It loosens up tight muscles and can help relieve the pain.
Chiropractic care can get at the source of the problem and works great in conjunction with massage therapy.
Over the counter NSAIDS like ibuprofen can help reduce pain and swelling
In severe cases, surgery may help.
Some chiropractic patients feel immediate relief from pinched nerve neck pain after one session. As you may know, chiropractors are trained to adjust your body so the ligaments, tendons, and bones find their rightful places, which means they’re no longer pinching your nerves.
At McQuaite Chiropractic in Doylestown, Dr. Jeff McQuaite will x-ray you to find the source of your neck pain and help you map out a treatment plan. You deserve to feel better.
Has election season given you a headache? It’s no wonder. It’s been quite a ride. But if you’re prone to headaches regardless of elections, you may appreciate a natural solution.
Over the counter medications and Joplin medical marijuana (among other providers of this herbal remedy) can provide you with pretty effective, quick relief, but if you find you’re losing hours and days of your life to headaches, it’s time to reevaluate your options.
I mean, what if you could find relief and reclaim your life with a simple and natural treatment like a chiropractic adjustment?
Millions of people have found headache relief at the chiropractor’s and in a moment, I’ll show you how but first, let’s look at the three main types of headaches.
Do You Have One of These 3 Common Types of Headaches?
There are many causes of headaches but the primary ones are tension based, migraines, and cluster headaches.
Tension headaches can feel like a band around your head or an achy feeling behind the eyes. These headaches are usually caused by subluxations (chiropractor speak for partial dislocations) in your upper back and neck. Chiropractic adjustments relieve this because the point is to re-align your spine.
Migraines are another common headache. These affect about 12% of the population. If you experience these, you know they can be accompanied by blinding light or pain and can be triggered by anything from bright lights, noise, smoke, certain foods, and even allergies. While doctors aren’t sure of the cause of migraines, many patients do find relief with regular chiropractic adjustments possibly due to the release of potential nerves and reduced stress.
Cluster headaches are the type that cluster behind one eye or side of your head and can occur over multiple days.
There are other types of headaches that can indicate a serious disease, even a brain tumor so if you suffer frequent headaches, you do want to work with a healthcare practitioner to discover the source.
How Can a Chiropractor Help You Find Headache Relief?
Here at McQuaite Chiropractic, in Doylestown, Pa we start with an x-ray to establish if there’s anything unusual going on. Next, we discuss your medical history and the types of headaches you typically have. Headaches can be triggered by food, not getting enough sleep or other lifestyle choices and sometimes, we can narrow down the possibilities as we discuss.
If you’d like to experience a chiropractic adjustment for your headaches, contact us to set up your first appointment or for a free consultation. You deserve to feel better.
