By Dr. Allison Land, DC
It’s a drastic understatement to say that the past year has been challenging. The world seems like it is falling apart, and many of us are struggling with unemployment, isolation, fear, and illness. It’s natural to feel stress, anxiety and grief, we’re all human, right? The issue arises when we can’t find our way out of that stress/anxiety pattern.
Taking care of yourself makes you more adaptable in highly stressful situations. That can mean limiting social media, exercising, getting adequate sleep, AND it can mean chiropractic care.
Chiropractic is all about adaptability – how well you adapt to your ever-changing environment is the greatest measure of your health. We call this neuroplasticity. “Neuro” comes from the root neuron which refers to the specialized cells in our brain; and “plasticity” is from the root plastic meaning the potential to be molded or modified. The words together indicate that the brain cells have the potential to create new nerve pathways to adapt as necessary.
Our nervous system functions in two different ways:
#1: The “fight-or-flight” system allows you to avoid potential danger; it raises your heart rate to pump more blood to muscles, dilates your airways to increase airflow and inhibits blood flow to gastrointestinal organs that are not in high demand during times of stress.
#2: The “rest and digest” system which is just the opposite, functioning to decrease heart rate and muscle tone to promote healing. Free of nerve interference, or spinal misalignments, the two systems can coordinate appropriately, allowing your body to adapt to your environment.
What happens when the “fight-or-flight” nervous system stays in an always “on” state (like for a whole year, 2020 anyone)?? Your body becomes stuck in a chronic stress mode, constantly sending unnecessary & sustained inflammatory messages from your immune system.
When you are actually facing a threat, this system is ideal in the short-term, however, when it is unable to return to a state of ease, it can create a multitude of harmful health problems. Prolonged stress triggers this branch of the nervous system sending it into overdrive (where a lot of us find ourselves these days).
A chiropractor is the only doctor that focuses on locating interference in the nervous system and correcting misalignments of the spine to positively enhance whole system function. If you’d like to fine-tune your self-care regimen, we’d love to help you remove some stress from your life.
Call us today to see how we can become a part of your health journey! (503) 245-8445