Have you ever noticed problems tend to build up over time before they are bad enough for us to really do anything about them?  It can be slowly accumulating debt, house repairs that go undone before finally collapsing or our own health.

In all of these cases the problem in question is no accident.  Small steps build up to the final result.  The good news is that same is true of fixing problems, or better yet, never having them in the first place.

This article isn’t about money or homes.  Its about your health.  We all know that our health is important but sadly we are led to believe that much of our current health status is beyond our control.  Its genetics, they say or a simple fact of aging.  But the truth is in most of the time its the little things we do day in and day out that ultimately end up deciding if we are healthy or unhealthy.

Maintaining your health is a choice you make every day but things do we really need to be aware of and take steps to make sure we are addressing every day?  From my personal experience and from working with patient’s over the years I think there are 3 levels of decisions we all need to make daily in order to have good health.

1) Diet and Exercise

This one comes as a surprise to no one.  Eating enough high quality, nutrient dense food is essential to giving our body the building blocks it needs for optimal health.  Exercise is our way of telling our body we need it functioning at a high level.  I go into much more detail about healthy diet on the Cooking Chiropractor blog and you can even download my cookbook from the website www.cookingchiropractorblog.com.

Exercise is also a no brainer.  It can be as simple as a 3o minute walk to start and slowly building up from there.  There are so many options out there for exercise that you can build a program from scratch based on your starting point, however it may be best to hire some help and look into a personal trainer.  Either way, the important message is that you NEED to exercise.

2) Chiropractic and Massage Therapy

Modern life is hectic and stressful for most of us.  That’s just a fact.  When we get stressed we release stress hormones that cause the muscles to tighten up.  This contributes to the many different aches, pains, headaches and other ills we feel physically in our bodies.

Chiropractic care is the single most important tool for normalizing the muscles and the skeletal system and reducing stress on the nervous system.  Each visit to your chiropractor builds on the one before and because you constantly introduce new stress both physical and mental into your life making chiropractic a regular part of your life is very important if you want to keep you body working well.

Along with chiropractic massage is a very important aspect of managing the body.  Massage does the heavy lifting in terms of relaxing muscles and working on specific muscle groups that need extra attention.  Working in monthly massage can dramatically increase the effects of chiropractic care and also do wonders for reducing overall stress and tension.

3) Sleep and Stress Management

Stress is an insidious killer in today’s society.  Often times we have so many little things going on that pile on us and before we know it we are completely stressed and don’t even know why.  Some simple steps to reducing stress include reducing caffeine intake, spending more time out doors away from electronics and regular exercise.  However, all of this is for nothing if you are not sleeping well.  Sleep is when our bodies repair from the day and as such we need regular sleep to make all our efforts at health come together. 8 hours is optimal no matter who you are.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it.  My 3 pillars of good health and honestly I don’t think any of it is really a big surprise unless  you have never been to a chiropractor or massage therapist (yes you are missing out).  Make an effort to improve these 3 areas of your life and you will see improvements in your health but you need to realize its a process.  Getting 1 good night of sleep, eating a healthy meal and getting adjusted once won’t make much difference if your in terrible health, used to eating Doritos and sleep 3 hours a night.  If you need help in any of these areas call my office 715-246-7500.  I can help you get any of these areas going or help point you towards the resources you need.