Everything is energy. The source of everything you think, do and feel is energy. So, how are you using yours? Are you putting energy into things, people, practices that are draining you? Or, are these efforts sustaining you? Are you aware of what drains your energy vs. what gives you more? How you’re allocating your energy is directly related to how you feel each day and how you’re going to feel in the future.
When you’re injured, sick, depressed, stressed, whatever, it’s a direct result of how much energy you’re expending vs. how much energy you actually have. Most of us believe we have an abundance of energy, and it will last forever. Or, at least, most of us live as if that’s the case. Work hard, play hard, spend time trying to make everyone happy, worry about every little detail of life; spend, spend, spend your energy. But, where is the time for building and sustaining energy? Where is the time for taking care of you? It’s important to have balance. The “secret” to a longer, higher quality of life is to build and maintain more energy than you expend. It’s a balancing act, and the balance is different for each person. Learning how to build your energy level naturally and how to use it efficiently is the key to preventing illness, injury, etc.
You already know how to expend energy. So, how can you build it? It’s simple.
Consider balance and moderation in everything you do. Eat healthy food in moderate amounts. Exercise moderately. Take time to connect with nature, the people and things you enjoy. Take time to nurture yourself. Be flexible – adapt to change as it occurs. Feel the feelings, but flow with the change. Laugh and smile a lot. Spend time with people who love and support you.
We also build energy by paying attention to internal growth through such things as relaxation, meditation, tai chi and qi gong, as well as yoga.
Here are three simple questions you can ask yourself to gain more clarity on how you use energy and what areas possibly need more balance:
What makes you laugh and smile and feel good deep in the core of your being?
What makes you feel tired, depressed, lonely, and void of energy?
How can you redirect and balance those aspects of your lifestyle to build more energy then you’re expending?
If you find that the answers to these questions reveal that you are stuck or that there is no way to change your situation, the acupuncturists at the Advanced Wellness Center are here to help. The foundation of Acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine is to move energy, or Qi, that is stuck or blocked. Moving energy creates change, which helps the body, mind and spirit build energy.
Healing Tip of the Week
We are dynamic, always changing, vibrant beings. Be willing to believe that this dynamic quality opens the door for the unlikely and the impossible to occur. Time is the vehicle of change. Today, practice patience, tolerance, and compassion for yourself as you allow time for change.
With a busy California lifestyle, it can be tough to eat healthy every day. Luckily, in Long Beach, we have several easy options for getting fresh, organic foods. One such place is Olives Gourmet Grocer with one store on 2nd St. and another on Broadway. In Dr. Michael Day’s article, “All Five Servings at Olives Gourmet Grocer,” which appeared in the Long Beach Post on July 6, he describes the ingredients and benefits of a healthy raw meal.
Yes, it does! A single night of poor sleep leads to insulin resistance, according to a study accepted for publication by the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The study measured the insulin sensitivity of healthy people after a night of eight hours of sleep against the same people only getting four hours of sleep. Insulin resistance, which is common among overweight people and is one of the precursors of Type 2 Diabetes, was increased after the night of only four hours of sleep. Most of us already know that chronic lack of sleep can alter metabolism and contribute to obesity, but now we know that only one night of poor sleep can negatively affect your weight.
Healing Tip of the Week
For many, getting enough sleep only requires a simple goal of getting to sleep earlier. Going to bed around 10 p.m. would give an average sleeper 8 hours of sleep. For these folks, it’s also a good idea to turn off the TV, radio, and end stimulating readings or conversations about 30 minutes prior to bed. I like to call it “down-shifting”. For more serious sleep problems, one effective remedy is acupuncture. Regulating your energy with this time-tested therapy often helps regulate sleep cycles.
In our modern world, where American children spend an average of almost 8 hours per day in front of some form media, such as TV, video games, computers and cell phones, we often wonder what these “weapons of mass distraction” are doing to our health and wellness.
In his excellent book, The Blue Zones, Dan Buettner examines the four areas of the world that have the highest density of people living to be 100 years or older. In these very different cultures, he finds common traits that hold true for all four of them. One of these traits is the emphasis on maintaining a social circle all throughout life. Buettner concludes that if you want to live a long, fruitful life, you need a strong social support system.
The Journal of the American Medical Association recently validated this conclusion. In a recent study, several hundred volunteers were exposed to a cold virus. The volunteers with the most socially diverse networks were the most disease resistant.
One would think that with the advent of cell phones and social networking sites, like Facebook, those relationships would be even easier to strengthen and maintain. We can now reach virtually anyone we know instantly 24 hours per day. In many cases, however, this media has actually robbed us of our communities, leaving us more isolated than ever. My grandfather’s generation spent their evenings playing cards, roughhousing in the yard with their kids, telling jokes, or going dancing. We now spend our evenings surfing the internet, relentlessly updating Facebook, or zoning out on TV. We have “signed off” on reality in favor of reality TV.
Fortunately, technology does have an upside. We have infinite opportunities for forming and strengthening personal relationships. The internet is a great tool for finding activities to do with your family and friends. And if you lack a social circle, the internet has sites to find like-minded people.
The only thing missing in your life is what you’re not willing to give. If you feel lonely, reach out to someone who is lonely. If you feel disconnected to your family, turn off the TV and reconnect. The health of our society depends on each one of us working diligently to improve our interconnections and strengthen our social networks.
Healing Tip of the Week
There are several great websites for families to find activities to do and for individuals to make new friends. Meetup.com is a site that holds gatherings, such as hikes or get-togethers based on similar interest. Me and my sister have used this site very successfully when relocating to new areas. Yelp.com is good for finding hikes, restaurants, parks, playgrounds etc. Taking a class at a community college also works like a charm!
We talk a great deal on the blog about the importance of keeping proper posture while driving, sitting on the computer, or watching television. Most recently, one of my patients brought to my attention one activity that I had totally overlooked: texting.
This patient was having neck and mid-back pain typical of poor upper body posture and was trying to work out what activities were causing the symptoms to worsen. After some searching, he realized that the main contributor to his pain was not his computer work or car time; it was text messaging on his cell phone.
A recent chiropractic publication confirms what he intuitively deduced. “These days, people are constantly ‘connected’ to their hand-held devices, whether it is their cellular phones, portable video games like Nintendo DS, e-readers such as Amazon Kindle, or they are just using apps on an iPhone.” In fact, a recent survey found that 8-18 year olds spend in excess of seven-and-a-half-hours a day using some form of mobile media.
Be aware of your forward head posture or “text neck,” and use the strategies written in many articles throughout this blog to correct them. Small corrections over a long period of time add up to big changes in your body.
Healing Tip of the Week
Get that head back on top of your shoulders! Your head is like a bowling ball, for every inch that your head migrates forward, the force it takes for your neck muscles to keep it upright effectively doubles.
A friend and colleague of mine, Dr. Dan Kehres, once wrote, “Sitting is one of the unhealthiest activities one can do.” How so? The body isn’t designed to sit. It’s designed to move. As many office workers can relate, when we sit too much, unhealthy events begin to occur. The muscles underneath the back of your head start to get irritated causing tension headaches. Your chin starts to jut forward flattening your spinal curve, irritating joints, nerves, and discs in your neck. The shoulders start to round forward causing shoulder and mid-back pain. The low back rounds forward irritating the muscles and increasing the stress on the lumbar discs and nerves.
Unfortunately, modern living is requiring us to sit more and more. How many hours do you sit per day; 8, 10, 12 or even 16? Fortunately, there are stretches and exercises you can do while sitting at the office or waiting at red lights. At AWC, we incorporate these into a program called “Chair Care.” Chair Care is a set of exercises designed to counter the effects of constant sitting. With Chair Care, you will learn exercises, such as “The Fonz” and “Head of the Cow.”
Healing Tip of the Week
Try this Chair Care exercise when you feel your low-back tightening. Make sure that the majority of your weight is supported by your arms. You can use the arm rests as well.
Did you know there are currently only two known hormones that every cell in the body communicates with? These two hormones are Vitamin D and Thyroid Hormone. Much attention has been given to Vitamin D; however, the treatment of thyroid disorders, particularly hypothyroidism (low thyroid), has been drastically neglected by both the medical and the alternative healthcare communities.
Hypothyroidism or low thyroid function is characterized by a wide variety of symptoms. Poor memory, depression, loss of alertness, muscle weakness, lethargy, and constipation can be some of the more common findings.
Approximately 90% of hypothyroid cases are due to an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. In Hashimoto’s, the body’s own immune system attacks the thyroid gland. There are many causes that trigger the immune system to attack the gland.
Medical and alternative healthcare treatments to date have grossly underserved hypothyroid patients. Medical treatment involves supplementing the patient with thyroid hormones. This approach works well to ease symptoms and avoid further damage to the body from low thyroid hormone levels. It does not address the underlying autoimmune causes and triggers, however. The autoimmune attack on the thyroid continues.
Many alternative practitioners have simplified treatment to taking general supplements for thyroid support. Many of these are not well researched and prove to be ineffective. Unfortunately some can even drive further damage. Iodine, for instance, has been shown to worsen Hashimoto’s patients.
It is important to address the underlying triggers of this autoimmune attack. There are options for patients who are not happy with the results they are experiencing. If you have a hypothyroid issue or suspect one, call AWC for a free consult. We’ll work with you to address the underlying triggers and arrest the condition before it gets worse!
Healing Tip of the Week
Much of the cutting-edge research in this field is being done by a chiropractor named Dr. Datis Kharrazian. He has a great book that explains these concepts called, “Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal?” If you suspect a thyroid condition, pick it up! Copies are available online or at AWC.
Neck pain is an interesting cascade of symptoms that leave many confused and searching for answers. The most interesting part about neck pain is where you feel your pain is rarely the true cause of your discomfort. Here is a short list of things that can cause neck pain.
Posture: As our society flexes forward at work, while texting, and in the car. As a result, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in neck pain. Muscles become imbalanced, and the neck usually gets the brunt of the abuse. The problem with posture is, once a faulty memory is set, it rarely goes back to normal by just “sitting up straighter.”
Subluxation: As defined by the American Chiropractic Association: “A subluxation is a complex of functional and/or structural and/or pathological articular changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health. A subluxation is evaluated, diagnosed, and managed through the use of chiropractic procedures based on the best available rational and empirical evidence.” Full spine subluxations are a hidden key to neck pain reduction and/or elimination. I have seen countless patients leave my treatment room free of chronic neck pain and headaches after removing the subluxations in their spine. Research recently showed chiropractic is effective in the treatment of neck pain when combined with exercise 60% of the time … compared to medical visits and pain meds 10%, and exercise alone 20%. Now those are some stats!
Breathing: Many people breathe from their upper chest instead of their diaphragm. This is a neurological dysfunction that needs to be fixed in order for neck pain to go away.
Inflammation: Most U.S. diets are pro-inflammatory, which means they create inflammation. The foods we eat increase acidity and heat within our bodies, which lead to an increased pain sensation and increased healing time.
Jaw clenching: Going to bed with unresolved emotion and stress can cause you to clench your jaw in the night. My personal theory is: once parts of the body become paralyzed in certain stages of sleep, the jaw and breathing muscles must stay active. Individuals literally “grind” their way through their problematic dreams. Also, if there is a jaw or upper neck subluxation, the brain will grind the teeth to attempt to make them congruent.
Emotion: Suppressed emotion can express itself in many ways (see breathing and jaw clenching). When the limbus brain, the emotional center, is overactive, it sends excess messages to the muscles of the body causing them to be chronically tense.
Posterior Line Fascial Restriction: Coined by Thomas Myer, the Posterior Fascial Line is a link of connective tissue starting in the feet and going all the way to the cranium. Checking fascial restrictions from head to foot is an integral aspect of eliminating many types of posterior body pain.
Healing Tip of the Week
If you have neck pain, check your breathing. Are you taking deep, even breaths all the way into your diaphragm and exhaling slowly? If not, try it!
Vinegar has been around for thousands of years, and is credited with many health and hygiene properties.
An important health effect of vinegar is its ability in aiding blood glucose control. It was reported first by Japanese researchers in 1988. Several other studies have pointed out the same findings; that is, vinegar reduces the speed at which sugars get absorbed into the bloodstream.
One study by Italian researchers published in 1995 shows that when healthy subjects consumed about 4 teaspoons (20 ml) of vinegar as a salad dressing with a meal that included white bread with a little less than 2 ounces (50 grams) of carbohydrates, there was a 30% reduction in their glycemic response, or rise in blood sugar. That is compared to the same meal without vinegar.
Separate placebo-controlled trials have corroborated the meal time, antiglycemic effects of 20g vinegar in healthy adults. Sugiyama and colleagues documented that the addition of vinegar or pickled foods to rice (e.g., sushi) decreased the GI (Glycemic Index) of rice by 20% to 35%.
From these studies, we can safely deduce that making salad dressings involving the use of vinegar is a healthy habit to support a healthy lifestyle.
Flatulence may be a laughing matter for some, but it’s still socially inappropriate in most settings. So why do some people have it more than others, and what can you do to save yourself the embarrassment of excess gas and “letting one go” accidentally?
Excess gas is commonly caused by the body’s inability to digest certain carbohydrates (for example, beans and legumes, sugars, starches and fiber). When the body doesn’t have the right enzyme to digest the food, it ferments in the large intestine where it gets broken down by beneficial bacteria. This process produces hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. This gas produced in the colon needs to exit! Hence, flatulence occurs.
If excessive gas becomes a problem for you, your healthcare practitioner can offer effective treatment. You may be asked to provide a food journal to review your food and drink intake and decipher which food may be the culprit. Certain digestive herbs or supplements may be recommended to help resolve the issue.
Want to get to the bottom of your gas? Write us a question or comment, and we’ll offer suggestions and/or let you know how we can help!
Healing Tip of the Week
Some of the healthiest people eat simply and chew food thoroughly, as do many children, who are more in touch with their instincts. This makes it easier for the body to manufacture the enzymes to properly digest food.
