1. Reducing the destructive effects of stress
Stress is a fact of life! Prolonged stress can lead to hormone imbalances in the adrenal glands, our “stress glands.” The adrenal glands secrete hormones that help us handle physical and emotional stress. When stress is high, these glands can become fatigued affecting the quality and quantity of the hormones that are produced. Some of the hormones the adrenal glands secrete include cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone to name a few, which controls sleep, digestion, weight gain, allergies, arthritis, immune function, heart function, fatigue and more. The adrenal glands can be checked and if malfunctioning can be repaired through diet and supplementation.
2. Reducing Chemical Toxicity
We come into contact with over 80,000 chemicals every week from the water we drink, the food we eat, the lotions we apply to our skin and what we breathe. Water and air pollution is a world-wide problem but the American diet contains more chemicals than most other countries. The United States ranks 50th and life expectancy but FIRST in obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases. To defend against these chemicals, our body surrounds them in fat and stores it away. As a result we gain weight, feel fatigued, can’t focus and become more susceptible to other health problems.
3. Removing Undetected Nerve and Tissue Damage
Trauma starts at the earliest of ages with child birth and continue with our first fall, contact sports, auto accidents, work accidents, etc…Although these injuries may not seem serious at first, they can cause long lasting damage to muscles, connective tissue and nerves. Nerves control every function in our body. If our nerves aren’t working right, neither are we. Headaches, back pain, neck pain, numbness and tingling, or other problems can occur from undetected nerve damage.
I like to break trauma down into 2 categories. Good Trauma and Bad Trauma.
Good Trauma would include things such as running, lifting weights and stretching. These activities break down muscle tissue so that we can achieve specific goals such as getting bigger, stronger and increasing our lean muscle mass, improving our endurance to finish a 5K, or an Iron Man for some of us, and improving our overall flexibility. This form of Trauma is important for us to maintain our ability to wrestle our kids and enjoy the great outdoors with reduced risk for injury.
Bad Trauma includes almost everything else. When we are involved in a car accident, that is a force our bodies aren’t meant to handle. The abnormal force applied to our bodies in such trauma as a Motor Vehicle Accident, a slip and fall, or a work related injury can cause many different reactions. Our bodies being the smart machines they are, respond the best way they know how to trauma by causing muscle spasms, tissue inflammation and pain to help protect us. Pain tells us there is something wrong and we should seek help. Tissue inflammation increases blood flow and circulation to the damaged tissue to try and incorporate healing. Muscle spasms prevent our bodies from stretching any more than they already have so that further connective tissue damage doesn’t occur.