Stress

Stress falls into many categories; work, home, finances, emotional problems, a traumatic event, chronic illness or injury, and others.  Many people find themselves falling victim to stress throughout the year. As you succumb to stress it is important to remember there is a connection between stress and illness.

There is a new study showing how stress weakens the immune system. Each cell contains a telomere, which gets smaller each time the cell divides.  The body also produces telomerase which helps to protect the cell and prevents further shortening by adding more DNA to the end of the telomere. When your body is under stress, your body puts out cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that suppresses the protective telomerase enzyme. The study found that people under increased stress have smaller and shorter telomeres, which increases the risk of illness.  By reducing your stress level, you can reduce your risk of skin conditions, heart disease, immune disorders, flare ups of multiple sclerosis-lupus-digestive disorder-irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, depression, insomnia, arthritis, back pain, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, and others.

Before any illness reaches your home, stack the deck in your favor to ensure you and your family have the best immune systems possible to fight unavoidable illnesses. Remember, prevention is always easier than treatment. To improve your immune system this season, try these Natural Tips for a healthy immune system:

1. Healing Hands: As if you needed reason to treat yourself to massage! The truth is, however, that massage therapy helps fight colds and flu by boosting your immune system’s function.

2. Hydrate: Water is the body’s ultimate source of life, healing and power. Water intake helps flush out toxins that get into the body from the environment and from the not-so-great foods we may eat. It also helps circulate nutrients and white blood cells throughout the body, ensuring protection against illness. Water also (perhaps most importantly) oxygenates your blood and all your organs ensuring optimal performance.

3. Veggies for Health: A diet high in fruits and vegetables is critical to enhance the body’s immune system. In particular, sources of beta carotene (kale, sweet potatoes, carrots), Zinc (palm hearts, lemongrass, sun dried tomatoes) and of course Vitamin C (bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi, and papaya) are extremely important to keep your immune system strong. Avoid excess dairy, caffeine, and sugar as they create excess inflammatory responses. Eat more vegetables than fruit to avoid an intake of excess sugar.

   Supplement Your Diet: You don’t have to go over-board with supplement-intake, but a few key nutritional additives are key to your immune system. Your front-lines defender should be Vitamin D (also found in eggs, Atlantic herring, and mushrooms). It is perhaps the most important micro nutrient stimulator for immune response. Another key fighter of immune system threats are omega 3 fatty acids. Coconut Oil also contains important fatty acids which have anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.

   Chiropractic care: The nervous system controls all body functions (including the immune system). Specifically, the nerves in your neck directly communicate with extremely important areas in your brain to control the immune response. In order to ward off any illnesses, you need free lines of communication between your immune system and brain. Sometimes, because of stress in our lives—physical, chemical, or emotional—those channels of communication can become blocked. Chiropractic adjustments eliminate interference in the nervous system caused by pressure on the nerves. Regular chiropractic care at Savage Chiropractic  ensures nerve energy flows freely to support your immune system.