Blood Pressure

I've been asked frequently about high blood pressure recently and what can be done about it.

  I've spoke on this subject several times and done extensive research on the subject.  I can boil down my 5 most important things to do to address the cause of high blood pressure. 
  Remembering that blood pressure going high is a symptom of other things and there's not much point in treating it as a stand alone problem.  I even go so far as to say high blood pressure in it of itself is not a problem, it's actually the innate intelligence of the body attempting to regulate and balance out a problem.

5 things that make good changes in your body, that can lower elevated blood pressure:
1) avoid all aspirin, Tylenol, nsaids and eat way less sugar.
2) practice diaphramatic breathing as an ongoing habit
3) meditate daily, 15min+
4) get chiropractic care - that specializes in the care of the upper cervical area.
5) eat more beats with their greens, sweet potato (not yams), cultured veggies and get more sunshine as well - no sunblock.

Health is a state in process

The latest idea I'm bringing to focus in my office is a more accurate understanding of health.

Health is not a fixed thing that you do or do not have.  That you have lost or found.  Broken or repaired.  Health is a state, and is constantly in process.  Applied properly, Chiropractic moves the process forward, where ever the state of health currently is.

It takes diligent applied effort to achieve mastery at work.  It takes conscious, frequent attention to make family life harmonious.  It takes concerted regular action to make health flourish.  And there is no upper limit of achievement, fulfilment or expression of these or any other worth while endevor.

People need People

Research shows that feeling lonely over time is far more accurately predictive of developing brain disease (dementia, Alzheimer's) than is feeling depressed.

Being social, feeling supported and being supportive, laughing and spending time with friends is more positively impactful on your health than is quiting smoking.

People need people.  We are pack animals.

Chiropractic and the Brain

1) The brain functions in patterns, repetitions or habits.  Some patterns are set to initiate protective mechanisms.  Some patterns are for growth and repair.

2) All funtional patterns of the brain have expression in the body.

3) The default brain patterns are for growth and repair.

4) Protective patterns that are activated for a prolonged period of time are damaging to the body and the brain.  A subluxation is an expression of this prolonged, damaging, protective pattern.

5) The chiropractic adjustment of the subluxation gives feedback to the brain, which can alter patterns.

6) Adjustments can interupt or initiate protective patterns.

Nothing happens TO you, It only happens FOR you.

The title of this post is a fundamental premise of how I look at health.  It's based upon this assumption:  Life only perpetuates life.  It does this in 2 ways, life protects itself or it seeks to grow itself.

Ultimately I believe that all expressions of health, or illness, is in someway the intelligence of the life within us either protecting or growing itself.

Nature would not select for any function devoid of evolutionary benefit.  If the body can do it, it exists in service of life.

When does the process end?

I had the pleasure of working with a great couple as new patients in my office today.  After we went through the things I usually do and a few things I specifically did we sat down and talked a little more.

She said that what we spoke about made sense, and that she understood that the care I was suggesting to her was a process.  And then she asked "but when does the process end?"

I answered her in two ways; 1) chiropractic is like anything else you can do in life that delivers ongoing benefits.  Exercise, dating your spouse, sleeping well, showering all help ongoingly, and so does Chiropractic.  2) I told her in my own life I don't get adjusted because I'm in pain, or have some ailment to treat.  I get adjusted because I want optimize my nervous system, my health and my life.

So ultimately, even though you are free to stop when ever you want.  There is no end to the process.

Chiropractic explained in 5 steps

In my time as a Chiropractor, based on my own observations, education before and after college, research study and experience the following 5 steps explain Chiropractic as simply, completely and congruently as I can.

1) A Physical event takes place and causes some kind of a distortion to the spine. 
This can be a quick trauma or slow repetitive strain in bad posture.  The first of these events is often at birth or very young while a baby is developing.

2) Protective mechanisms kick in.
From step 1 if a bone in your spine were to go completely out of place it would either paralyze or kill you depending on the location of the bone.  The natural survival mechanisms can't have that, so in an instant, small muscles and reflexes engage, locking down portions of the spine preventing life threatening harm.  The lock down mechanism is good for temporary survival, but will alter nervous system function and is bad for full thriving when prolonged, even minimally.

3) The brain makes a habit out the protective mechanism.
The brain is nothing if not efficient, relatively quickly turning new learning into automatic habits.  This means that the nervous systems' responses (step 2) to any stimulus significant enough or repetitive enough (step 1) can pattern itself into the circuitry of the brain.  Whenever a stress experience occurs step 2's protective spinal lock down will kick in along with the rest of the body's fight or flight mechanisms.  Importantly the triggering stress doesn't need to be the same physical event (step 1) to trigger it.  It can be any non-physical threatening stress - an angry boss or a traffic jam - and that can return the physical lock down mechanisms to the spine as readily as a physical trauma. 
What I have been describing, in essence, are a few of many aspects of a subluxation.

4) The Chiropractic Adjustment breaks the habit.
The adjustment to the spine affects the entire nervous system, lighting up the brain with activity.  This kind of increased activity is a resources, and with it the brain can create new responses and break old habits.  Over time the responses that were good for short term survival, but compromising of ongoing health can refresh.  The pattern, negatively prolonged, is interrupted.

5) The benefits of Chiropractic care are dependent on how often you do it.
While the before-and-after comparison on health can be highly dramatic for some with only one Chiropractic Adjustment, repetition will provide cumulative benefits.  While the optimum frequency of adjustments varies, overall cumulative benefits are the common effect over time.  There is no upper limit to the benefits of Chiropractic care when applied as an ongoing lifestyle.  Every properly applied Chiropractic adjustment will measurably affect the function of your nervous system.  Research, big and small as well as multitudes of patients have reported; cognitive, emotional, digestive, immune, reproductive, hormonal, sensory, strength and balance positive changes, including an overall increased sense of wellbeing. 

I think of Chiropractic care as a key part of my strategy to bring out my best, and give the most from my life.  I eat, exercise, rest and love consciously.  I know my purpose and work towards it and I get adjusted regularly.