Category: Newsletter Library

You are the lucky owner of a magnificent piece of biological machinery – the human brain. Your brain is always on, performs lightning-fast calculations, and is a whiz at making connections between seemingly unrelated factors and observations. The only downside is that your brain didn’t come with an owner’s manual.

Fortunately, your brain has no moving parts. All the action is on the inside – inside the black box. And, your brain is always available. It will do whatever you tell it to do. All you have to do is take care of it properly – provide it with energy, take it out for a walk, and make sure it’s connected.

The energy part could be easy, but most of us fall down on the job. Our bodies require high-quality nutrition, but mostly what they get is a poor substitute. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-grain cereals; complete protein from milk, yogurt, cheese, eggs, fish, chicken, turkey; and plenty of water cover daily requirements for optimum functioning. [If you’re a vegetarian, make sure you get complete protein from dairy products – rice and beans do not provide complete protein!]

A balanced food plan provides your brain with all the energy it needs ¹ – and it needs plenty of energy! Glucose is the primary source of energy for your brain – complex carbohydrates like potatoes and whole grains make it all happen.

Going for a walk – a metaphor for all kinds of vigorous physical activity – not only helps keep you in top shape but is also one of the best things you can do for your brain. So many recent scientific studies have shown that peak brain function and levels of exercise are strongly related.^{2, 3}

Physical activity causes new areas of your brain to “light up” and builds connections between areas of your brain that weren’t connected before. So, you’re body’s getting smarter at the same time that you’re getting smarter! A pretty good deal.

Finally, it’s very important to make sure that all the parts of your body are talking to each other in the right way and at the right time. Your brain needs to receive the information it’s supposed to receive to make good decisions, and your body needs to receive the information it needs from your brain to get all the jobs done that need to be done.

Regular chiropractic care helps make sure these things are happening. Regular chiropractic care helps balance the flow of information in your nervous system, taking care of you and your brain.

¹Rosales FJ, Zelsel Sh: Perspectives from the symposium: The Role of Nutrition in Infant and Toddler Brain and Behavioral Development. Nutr Neurosci 11(3):135-143, 2008
²Christie BR, et al: Exercising our brains: how physical activity impacts synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus. Neuromolecular Med 10(2):47-58, 2008
³Lange-Asschenfeldt C, Kojda G: Alzheimer’s disease, cerebrovascular dysfunction and the benefits of exercise: From vessels to neurons. Exp Gerontol 43(6):499-504, 2008

Physicians and scientists have often called the human body a beautiful instrument. The sense in which this metaphor is applied is primarily mechanistic. The human body is a beautiful instrument in that its parts mesh properly and each component performs its function superbly.

The metaphor “beautiful instrument” can be also be interpreted from the perspective of music. Just as playing the piano, the cello, or the saxophone can create wonderful tones, harmonies, and melodies, the workings of the human body may also create beautiful music.

The movements of the planets, stars, and constellations have been termed the “music of the spheres”. Patterns of motion of the celestial bodies are precise, regular, and harmonious. These reliable patterns allow sailors to navigate safely and confidently on the open ocean, and allow farmers to determine their planting seasons with high levels of accuracy.

The human body, as awe-inspiring and as beautiful as the Eagle Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, or the rings of Saturn, possesses internal mechanisms as precise and complex as those astronomers are able to observe in the deepest regions of space. The music the body creates is similarly as beautiful.

In music, a major chord is a simultaneous combination of three notes – the root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. If you want to play a C major chord you strike (or hold) a C, an E, and a G. If you’re playing an F major chord, you play an F, an A, and a C. In a sense, this system describes a musical code. Your body has many such codes.

The genetic code is one example. Every protein in your body is composed of a precise sequence of amino acids. Substitute glycine for valine or glutamine for serine and you’ve got a completely different protein. Precision in manufacture means your body works the way it is supposed to work, with no errors or failures.

Proteins such as hemoglobin or insulin are built exactly the same way every time. This level of 100% accuracy is made possible by the genetic code. Each amino acid that makes up hemoglobin or insulin has its own corresponding genetic sequence which is composed of three pieces of information – just like a major chord. ¹

We can say that wellness is a state of physiologic harmony. ^2,3 We become unwell when we’re “out of tune”. At such a time our internal chords aren’t being played properly – “notes” aren’t being put together properly or are being played out of sequence.
Chiropractic care can help restore musical balance.

By making sure the spine is in alignment, chiropractic care helps restore precision and harmony to all the functions of the body. Proteins are built properly, enzymes function at the right time and in the right proportion, biochemical reactions take place efficiently, and health and wellness is the result.

¹Martinez-Mekler G, et al: Universality of rank-ordering distributions in the arts and sciences. Public Library of Science (PLOS) Mar 19, 2009 (http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004791)
²Heber D: An integrative view of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr Nov 18, 2009 (abstract online – http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/ajcn.2009.28473Bv1)
³Endler PC, et al: Sense of coherence and physical health. A “Copenhagen interpretation” of Antonovsky’s SOC concept. Sci World J 20(8):451-453, 2008

What’s your worldview? Are you an optimist or a pessimist by nature? Do you always expect good things to happen or are you waiting for the other shoe to drop? Our mental attitude affects how we interact with others and how we respond to events and the comings and goings in our daily lives. Remarkably, our mental attitude also affects our health and well-being. How we feel, not only mentally but also physically, is significantly impacted by what has been termed our “internal guidance mechanism”.

Back in the 1960s a plastic surgeon named Maxwell Maltz wrote Psycho-Cybernetics, a groundbreaking book that has been continuously in print for almost 50 years. Psycho-Cybernetics, one of the original self-help books, popularized the idea that the subconscious part of our mind is a goal-seeking mechanism. Maltz famously compared the subconscious to a guided missile, stating that the subconscious would do exactly what it is programmed to do. If you want to achieve a goal, Maltz proposed, visualize its successful completion. Visualize yourself driving that red sports car. Visualize the fun you and your family are having on your trip to Hawaii or Italy. Visualize living in your beautiful home. Provided that the instructions are clear, your subconscious will go to work to cause your goal to manifest in your life.

This wasn’t mumbo-jumbo. Maltz was a scientist and made a very strong case for his theory, backed up by decades of interaction with his patients. Since then, of course, hundreds if not thousands of self-help gurus have sprung up, publishing books, giving seminars, and being interviewed in broadcast media. Maltz, Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, Emmet Fox, and Ernest Holmes were the originals, the pioneers who promulgated the concepts and precepts of taking charge of your own life.

In terms of health, for example, attitude is critically important.^1,2,3 How do you respond, internally, if a nearby co-worker coughs or sneezes throughout the day? Have you noticed that if you think that you, too, are going to get sick, that in fact you do? But others, exposed to the same environment, do not. Is it possible that these others paid no attention to the ill co-worker, that they did not internalize the notion that they were being exposed to contagion? Such a scenario is not necessarily true, but it is possible. The conclusion could be that our thoughts matter. As Earl Nightingale, one of the pioneers of the personal development field, famously stated, “You become what you think about”.

So what should we do? Think happy thoughts all day long? Not really. But it is important to remember that attitude counts. If we are more frequently seeing the glass as half-full rather than half-empty, it is possible that we are going to have a more productive, more successful, more fulfilled day. And, unbeknownst to us, our subconscious mind will build on those successes and help to bring us more success, personal growth, happiness, and well-being.

¹Matsunaga M, et al: Association between perceived happiness levels and peripheral circulating pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in middle-aged adults in Japan. Neuro Endocrinol Lett August 5, 2011 (Epub ahead of print)

²Layous K, et al: Delivering happiness: translating positive psychology intervention research for treating major and minor depressive disorders. J Altern Complement Med 17(8):675-683, 2011

³Sadler ME, et al: Subjective wellbeing and longevity: a co-twin control study. Twin Res Hum Genet 14(3):249-256, 2011

For thousands of years, humanity has struggled to understand the place of men and women in the universe. All sorts of explanations have been brought forward, many proposing that humanity is part of a greater whole and helps contribute to the welfare of all. Equally many theories suggest that humanity is the center of the universe for which all else exists. Whether one conceives that humankind is a contributing partner in the web of life, or whether one takes the position that humans rule over all else, taking what we need from the resources freely provided, all can agree there is much to be learned from the natural world.

In particular, men and women can learn how to maintain a healthy physical existence. But it seems we have not learned the lessons available with any sort of effectiveness. Research shows that more than half of all adults in the United States have at least one chronic disease. Worldwide, chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer account for more than 60% of all deaths annually. Recently, the prevalence of chronic diseases has been largely attributed to lifestyle. Whether you consistently eat a nutritious diet and engage in regular vigorous exercise has a great deal to do with your present state of health and the likelihood of developing a life-threatening chronic disease in the future.^1,2

If we were really paying attention, even those of us who live in urban areas would recognize that all other forms of life with whom we share this planet engage in regular exercise on a daily basis. For example, it seems that birds only really rest when they’re asleep for the night. Rabbits and squirrels are continually on the move searching for food. Bees are constantly in flight and ants are always on the march. Even plants get their exercise by daily phototropic behaviors, turning their stalks, extending their stems, and turning their leaves toward the sun to obtain their form of daily nutrition. And, of course, with the exception of domesticated pets and animals caged in zoos, you never see an overweight or obese robin, finch, hawk, bunny, or bumblebee.

Thus, it’s important to recognize that even with our vaunted self-awareness and reasoning ability, we are nonetheless quite similar, physiologically at least, to all other creatures. It’s not necessary for us to develop a radical cosmic consciousness, but it is necessary to be able to discern what’s beneficial for us. Extending the well-known proverb, what’s good for the goose is not only good for the gander, but good for us, too. By making our own the regular, sensible habits of other living beings, men and women around the world can obtain higher levels of health, wellness, and well being, now and into the future.³

¹Street SJ, et al: Windows of opportunity for physical activity in the prevention of obesity. Obes Rev 2015 Jul 29. doi: 10.1111/obr.12306. [Epub ahead of print]
²Blaize AN, et al: Impact of Maternal Exercise during Pregnancy on Offspring Chronic Disease Susceptibility. Exerc Sport Sci Rev 2015 Jul 21. [Epub ahead of print]
³Smith CJ, Ryckman KK: Epigenetic and developmental influences on the risk of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Diabetes Metab Syndro Obes 8:295-302, 2015

Renewability, sustainability, and energy conservation are all over the news. Every newspaper’s front page and every television nightly news program features sustainability daily. These are important issues, not only for the health of our planet, but also for our physical health and well-being.

Our physical health depends on how we maximize our available energy resources – how we use our body’s stores of energy, how we replace and renew that energy, and how we practice conservation of our physical energy.

The interaction of all the elements of human physiology is exactly analogous to the interaction of ecosystems in the global ecology. It’s an interesting and powerful comparison.

Energy resources in our body consist of nutrients obtained from food, oxygen, and stored energy in the form of sugars (glycogen) and fats. We gain energy by eating good food and balancing our nutritional choices from all the major food groups.^1,2 We gain energy by having efficient and well-toned cardiovascular and respiratory systems. We gain energy by having strong muscles. And we gain energy by getting sufficient rest.

How we use these resources depends on instructions from the nerve system. Being able to use these resources efficiently depends on the underlying tone of our cells and tissues, which in turn depends on normal flow of information in the nerve system.

Hyperactive nerve systems and sluggish nerve systems – due to a variety of causes – create imbalances up and down the line.³ Systems perform abnormally. Your metabolism slows down or speeds up. You don’t digest your food properly. You use too many or too little resources for a given task, and the job doesn’t get done properly. Muscles get tight. Joints get stiff. You have pain. You get sick.

In these cases you’re using more energy – due to inefficient systems – than you’re taking in. You’re not sustaining your resources, you’re depleting them. Sooner or later, your entire system will begin to breakdown. You have chronic pain, you’re tired all the time, you toss and turn when you should be sleeping, and you’re irritable during the day.

Energy is not being renewed. Your body’s out of balance, physically and metaphorically.

Chiropractic treatment directly addresses these energy concerns. Chiropractic care is all about energy management and conservation of resources. Gentle chiropractic treatment focuses on restoring balance to nerve systems, muscular systems, and physical structure. Energy begins to flow to where it’s needed most, chronic pain begins to resolve, and you begin to sleep more restfully. You have a greater focus and get done the things you want to get done during the day. Your relationships with family and friends are more enjoyable, and life itself becomes much more fun.

Your chiropractor – your energy conservation specialist – is an important natural resource for your well-being and your family’s well-being.

¹Katona P, Katona-Apte J: The interaction between nutrition and infection. Clin Infect Dis 46(10):1582-1588, 2008
²UNESCO, Regional Office for Education in Asia and the Pacific: Population, nutrition, and health. Bull Unesco Reg Off Educ Asia Pac 23:260-268, 1982
³D’Melllo R, Dickenson AH: Spinal cord mechanisms of pain. Br J Anaesth April 15, 2008

Mindfulness techniques can assist a person substantially in achieving improved levels of health and well-being. These methods, including meditation and guided imagery, are gaining prominence as more traditional medicine group practices, hospitals, and teaching institutions ^1,2 are embracing an integrated approach.

Learning the basics of mindfulness methods is easy and straightforward. Success in applying these techniques requires attention and discipline, and one’s capabilities in these areas increase with time and practice.

Guided imagery involves picturing a peaceful, relaxing setting and may incorporate persons, animals, and other living beings in the imagined environment. The purpose of the exercise is to focus and immerse yourself in the quiet and soothing surround. The benefit derives from profoundly shifting one’s habitual focus on stress and stressful circumstances onto positive images that help support health and healing.³

To begin, you seat yourself comfortably in a location where you won’t be disturbed or distracted by others. You close your eyes, take a few relaxing breaths, and affirm to yourself that you’re going to have a positive experience. You start the self-guided imagery session by picturing a favorite place, one that is enriching and uplifting, such as a beach, nature trail, or mountain habitat. The environment does not have to be one with which you have actual experience. The power of self-guided imagery is that your imagination is, in fact, your open-ended guide.

For example, if you’re on a beach, you could first focus on the sensation of the warmth of the sun on your skin. Feel how it feels. Really focus on the aliveness that the sun’s rays generate throughout your entire being. Picture yourself in your comfortable beach chair and experience the textures and tactile sensations of your casual, colorful beach attire.

After a while, you may choose to walk down to the shoreline. Feel the warmth of the sand on the soles of your feet. Experience the contours of the sand and how your balance has to adjust with each step to match the miniature hills and valleys of the sandy shore. Hear the deep rumble of the ocean and the gentle susurration of the waves. Focus on a sequence of waves. See them rise, crest, and crash on the shore. Experience the ebb and flow of your own heartbeat and your own breath, your personal internal rhythms that align with the rhythms of the ocean shore.

Your self-guided imagery sessions may last for five or ten minutes. You could do these sessions daily or one or two times a week. Essentially, you’re telling yourself a wonderful story that you experience in your mind’s eye. Your self-guided imagery sessions are filled with beautiful images, sounds, and even music that provide an experience of peace, fulfillment, and happiness. Over time, the results include reduced stress, greater awareness, a heightened sense of presence and being-in-the-world, and improved health.

Regular Chiropractic Care and Mindfulness Techniques

Whether you’re engaged in meditation, guided imagery, awareness practice, or breathing exercises, musculoskeletal aches, pains, soreness, and tension can interfere with what you’re attempting to accomplish. Unless you’re an advanced mindfulness student, these physical ailments can easily become the focus of attention and drain energy from your healing process.

Regular chiropractic care can provide effective solutions to these daily musculoskeletal stresses and strains. By detecting and correcting sources of nerve interference and spinal biomechanical dysfunction, regular chiropractic care restores optimal functioning and structural integrity to your body’s skeletal and muscular framework. As a result, you’re able to breathe more easily and fully, get more oxygen into your system, and deliver more healing nutrients to the regions of your body that need them the most. In this way, by helping to resolve and heal stumbling blocks to your concentration, focus, and attention, regular chiropractic care provides great benefit to every mindfulness practice.

1. Zech N, et al: Efficacy, acceptability and safety of guided imagery/hypnosis in fibromyalgia – A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Eur J Pain 21(2):217-227, 2017
2. Nooner AK, et al: Using Relaxation and Guided Imagery to Address Pain, Fatigue, and Sleep Disturbances: A Pilot Study. Clin J Oncol Nurs 20(5):547-552, 2016
3. Charalambous A, et al: Guided Imagery And Progressive Muscle Relaxation as a Cluster of Symptoms Management Intervention in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy: A Randomized Control Trial. PLoS One 2016 Jun 24;11(6):e0156911. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156911. eCollection 2016

Humans appear to be hard-wired for modest levels of anxiety as a fear-arousal warning mechanism. Anxiety may be characterized as uneasiness, fear, worry, and apprehension. Anxiety is a common psychological state in which the basic message is “get away from this situation”. The state is usually accompanied by numerous physiologic components including surges of the hormone adrenaline, increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure, and increased blood flow to the major muscle groups as the body prepares for “fight or flight”.

These are all normal responses to environmental threats. The overall process is orchestrated by the amygdala and hippocampus, two regions of the brain’s limbic system which process memory, emotional response, and spatial navigation. But for many people, if anxiety states become frequent and prolonged by various developmental circumstances in childhood and their teenage years, they may begin to respond to perceived rather than real threats. The anxiety state may persist and even become the default condition for the individual.

Those with chronic anxiety may experience chronic back pain,^1,2 chronic muscular tension, fibromyalgia,³ headaches, chest pain, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations. Chronic anxiety may cause a person to anticipate the worst, to have ongoing feelings of dread, to be constantly irritable and tense, and to experience panic attacks. Eventually the person may become worn out from the constant drain on their inner resources and a likely outcome is depression. The person simply cannot take any more stress.

Chronic anxiety has a specific impact on the musculoskeletal system. Persistently elevated levels of adrenaline create ongoing tension in the postural muscles of the lower back and the weight-bearing, antigravity gluteal muscles, pelvic musculature, and hamstrings. The long-term results may include chronic lower back pain, inflammation of the sciatic nerve, and lumbar disc disease. Of course, any of these health problems create more anxiety for the person, establishing a vicious circle of anxiety, pain, more anxiety, and more pain.

Solutions for chronic anxiety usually require multidisciplinary holsitic approaches. Nutrition, for example, is a key factor in restoring a person’s homeostatic mechanisms. Significantly reducing one’s intake of simple carbohydrates – soda, muffins, cookies, cake, fast food, and even juice – will often have a substantial impact. Making sure to have five servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day will also provide great benefit.

Chiropractic care can frequently provide considerable assistance to those with chronic anxiety. By normalizing activity within the musculoskeletal system and reducing muscular stress and tension, chiropractic care helps eliminate an unnecessary source of biochemical and physiologic stress.

¹Newcomer KL, et al: Anxiety levels, fear-avoidance beliefs, and disability levels at baseline and at 1 year among subjects with acute and chronic low back pain. Phys Med Rehabil 2(6):514-520, 2010

²Hurley DA, et al: Physiotherapy for sleep disturbance in chronic low back pain: a feasibility randomised controlled trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disord 11:70, 2010 [11 pages]

³Silverman S, et al: Toward characterization and definition of fibromyalgia severity. BMC Musculoskeletal Disord 11:66, 2010 [9 pages]

This is turning out to be a pretty tough century. Or at least so far. The recent earthquake-like shocks in the economy have impacted everyone, and most people’s stress levels are sky-high.

Jobs have been lost, retirement savings have shrunk drastically, and energy prices are rising again. Economic stress leads to real physical stress.

Stress is more than just a state of mind. Stress has real physical components, including tight muscles, headaches, difficulty falling asleep and restless sleep, abdominal pain, allergies and asthma, inflammation, and high blood pressure.

Some results of stress may have long-term consequences. Prolonged high blood pressure, for example, may lead to heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Long-term inflammation may lead to weight gain, diabetes, and even kidney disease.

Of course, we could have stress because we have stress. We’re stressed, and now we begin worrying about all the things that could go wrong because we are under stress. Not a good plan.

A better plan would involve being proactive and beginning to take action steps that support our health and well-being. The action steps include the usual suspects – exercise and good nutrition. Everyone knows they “should” be doing regular exercise and “should” be eating good food every day, the difficulty is that no one wants to do what they “should”.

The way to reducing one’s stress levels is in choosing to take action. We choose healthy behaviors because we want to, not because we think we “should”. The concept of personal choice is powerful and may lead to shifts toward behaviors that are healthy.

From an information point of view, both exercise and good nutrition have potent effects on a person’s health.Both reduce inflammation. Both neutralize circulating free radicals, reducing a number of health risks, and both provide new energy resources, making us healthier and happier.

Choosing good health improves our lives in countless ways. By choosing, we take back the power of good health. Everyone in our lives benefits by our renewed energy, creativity, productivity, and love for life.

Beginning a program of chiropractic care is another positive choice we may make. Chiropractic adjustments help our bodies work more efficiently and effectively, directly reducing physiologic stress and indirectly improving our ability to effectively manage the stress in our daily lives.

Your chiropractor is an expert in health, wellness, and well-being and will be glad to help you design exercises and food plans that will work for you. Remember – being healthy is a choice!

¹Appel LJ, et al: Effects of comprehensive lifestyle modification on blood pressure control: main results of the PREMIER clinical trial. JAMA 289(16):2083-2093, 2003
²Elmer PJ, et al: Effects of comprehensive lifestyle modification on diet, weight, physical fitness, and blood pressure control: 18-month results of a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 144(7):485-495, 2006
³Viera AJ, et al: Lifestyle modifications to lower or control high blood pressure: is advice associated with action? The behavioral risk factor surveillance survey. J Clin Hypertens 10(2):105-111, 2008

We certainly live in stressful times. It’s not easy to assess whether our era is the most stressful, but we do have plenty of daily stress. The job, the home, the kids, the relatives, and the economy – all these stresses add up and yet we wonder why we have so many aches and pains.

So many ailments are stress-related. Americans are notoriously overweight. Overeating is a stress-coping mechanism.¹ Headaches and backaches are often associated with increased stress. There’s a strong correlation between high blood pressure and stress, ulcers and stress, and even cancer and stress.

What can we do? The external stresses in our lives aren’t going away. Our activity-filled lives are busy and complex – there’s always going to be stress. The key is to help avoid or ease the physical effects of stress. Interestingly, chiropractic treatment can be of great assistance in reducing the effects of stress on the body.

In general, stress causes muscles to tighten. This is an unconscious reaction. Tight muscles cause a cascade of further muscle tightening, shortening of muscles and ligaments, and a resulting decrease of mobility in joints, particularly shoulder joints, hip joints, and joints of the spine.^2,3

This overall mechanical effect of stress has a number of additional consequences. All the extra unconscious muscle activity wastes precious nutritional resources and uses up energy needed for critical body functions. Lactic acid accumulates, irritating nerve endings and further increasing muscular tightness. And, importantly, the losses in spinal joint mobility lead directly to increased levels of pain. This, of course, leads to more stress.

This vicious circle of stress, muscular tightness, and pain can be relieved and reduced by chiropractic treatment.⁴ Chiropractic therapy is specially designed to improve joint mobility of the spine and pelvis. This gentle, effective treatment gradually restores maximal spinal motion. Muscle tightness is alleviated, metabolic processes begin to return to normal, and nutrients become more available to help maintain healthy functioning. Levels of pain are reduced, and we become better able to withstand the physical effects of stress.

Your chiropractor will explain the many benefits of treatment, and will provide instruction in stretching techniques and specific exercises that help maintain the positive results of therapy.

There will always be stress. We can learn how to reduce the physical effects of stress, and become stronger, healthier, and happier in the process.

---

Take a Break! A few quick tips –

• Get up out of your chair or leave your workbench and walk over to an open window. Change your point-of-view. Breathe some fresh air.
• Go for a five-minute walk, either in the corridors of your building or out-of-doors.
• Call a friend and chat for five minutes.
• Close your eyes, clear your mind, and take an imaginary vacation – relaxing on a warm beach, deep-sea fishing on a beautiful yacht, or skiing down a gorgeous mountain.

These short, focused breaks will help reduce muscular tightness and physical stress, and also help your brain recharge so you can be more creative and productive!

---

¹Marchesini G, et al: Psychiatric distress and health-related quality of life in obesity. Diabetes Nutr Metab 16(3):145-154, 2003
²Weickgenant AL, et al: Coping activities in chronic low back pain: relationship with depression. Pain 53(1):95-103, 1993
³Burns JW: Arousal of negative emotions and symptom-specific reactivity in chronic low back pain patients. Emotion 6(2):309-319, 2006
⁴Hurwitz EL, et al. A randomized trial of chiropractic and medical care for patients with low back pain. Spine 31(6):611-621, 2006

Way back in the 1960s, when everything was brand-new, the Beatles introduced Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to national television audiences in American and the UK. The Maharishi came to the West with the Beatles to introduce a new thing – Transcendental Meditation.

At the time most Westerners were not familiar with meditation in any form. The Maharishi introduced a simple method that has become well-known and popular over the years. Meditation is even more important to our health and well-being in the 21st century than ever before.

It takes a lot to maintain good health these days. Of course, eating a healthy diet – with plenty of fruits and vegetables – and exercising regularly are the cornerstones of good health. Sufficient rest is another key ingredient – most of us require at least seven hours of sleep each night to restore energy and vitality.

There is another essential factor – one that is less well-recognized and easy to overlook. In the early years of the 21st century we all need to find ways to manage our daily levels of stress. If we tell the truth, for most of us, our stress levels are off the charts.

Meditation can be a powerful tool for reducing the impact of stress on our bodies, and for helping us better manage the stress in our lives.^1,2 Meditation is simple and straightforward – all that’s required is a commitment to making it happen.³

You don’t need any special equipment. You don’t need incense or candles. You don’t even need a mat or a cushion. You can do meditation sitting in a comfortable, straight-backed chair.

There are many methods and ways of practicing meditation. In Transcendental Meditation you silently repeat a simple phrase to yourself. You focus on the phrase, known as a mantra. In Zen meditation, you focus on your breath – not by breathing deeply, but rather as a means to focus your attention. Breathe in, breathe out. Your attention wanders. Notice that, and return your focus to the breath.

Or, you can simply sit quietly. Close the door and turn off your cell phone. Make sure everyone in your home knows this is your alone time. Just sit quietly for ten minutes, allowing yourself to relax. Find a place within yourself on which to focus, and let yourself go. Set aside ten minutes a day. You’ll find that you eagerly look forward to this quiet time and that you emerge refreshed and revitalized.

Your chiropractor is an expert in helping people achieve greater levels of health and well-being and will be glad to help you learn about methods of stress reduction that will work for you.

¹Barnhofer T, et al: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as a treatment for chronic depression. Behav Res Ther Feb 5, 2009
²Carson JW, et al: Yoga of Awareness program for menopausal symptoms in breast cancer survivors: results from a randomized trial. Support Care Cancer Feb 12, 2009
³Sharma R, et al: Effect of yoga based lifestyle intervention on subjective well-being. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 52(2):123-131, 2008