You may have heard the word “inflammation”, or the phrase “inflammatory foods” been used a lot over the last few years when it comes to health, but what exactly is inflammation? And how does it affect you and me?

In today’s blog, I want to have a bit of a deep dive into this subject to give you a better idea of how to avoid and deal with “bad” inflammation…

Whether we try to avoid it or not, stress will always find a way into our lives. The trick is not to try and avoid it, but to learn how to manage it and use it to your advantage!

Today we’re going to look at the different kinds of stress and how they affect mental and physical health, as well as our ability to heal.

Is health just the absence of illness and disease?

I believe true health is more than that. I think it’s made up of many areas that combine together to make a bigger picture than any one of these areas does alone.

That might sound confusing, but I promise you it’s not. Once you understand a few basic principles, and how to implement them, I think optimum health is something we can all achieve.

This Thursday is the start of National Arthritis Week, a campaign which aims to raise awareness of the biggest cause of pain and disability in the UK. 

In the UK, arthritis affects more than 10 million people, with osteoarthritis being the most common form, affecting around 8.5 million people. 

I think that too many of us are backseat passengers to the health of our minds. We believe and “think” that is out of our control. If you do that, it will be.

It’s estimated that 50-75% of adults aged 18–65 years in the world have experienced a headache in the last year. What is really staggering is that most people think that headaches are “a part of life”, and something we must “just get on with”.

Change and the uncertainty that it brings is an unavoidable part of life. It is however the one thing that you can guarantee will happen. Yet so many People struggle with it.

This week’s blog is about bone health. A topic that rarely gets mentioned until we start to age. When in fact talking about it sooner rather than later will help you in the short and long term.

The right amount of sleep plays a vital role in helping you express health. We spend about one third of our life doing so. Have too little and it can play havoc with your health. Getting the right amount of quality sleep is just as essential as food and water.

Poor posture is something we see a lot here at the practice. Especially poor posture causing neck and shoulder pain.

The slumped posture with rounded shoulders and chin jutting forward puts huge physical stress on all the structures surrounding the neck. Including the muscles, tendons, ligaments, discs and the nervous system.

The brain is a complex organ. It is linked to every single function you do, every second of every day, it doesn’t rest when you sleep. It is busy in the background. Every organ system in your body, through your nervous system, communicates to your brain.

It is therefore essential to make “Brain health” a necessity when creating routines and daily habits to help you express better health.

Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. (Physical, Intellectual, Social, Emotional, Spiritual and Chemical). This threat can be real or imagined. The body’s defences kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction or the “stress response.”

In an age where smartphones and technology are used for nearly most things, including paying for your shopping (using your watch!) to listening to an audiobook or watching your favourite show on your commute to work.

The practice of engaging in controlled purposeful breathing. Breathing practice, also known as “diaphragmatic breathing” or “deep breathing,” is defined as an efficient integrative body-mind training for dealing with stress and psychosomatic conditions (Ma et al. 2017).

The head forward in relation to the neck, with rounded shoulders is a very common postural problem. If you look around you will see how many people are suffering from it. They may not be experiencing any pain yet, but if left untreated or corrected it will only be a matter of time. It creates a muscular imbalance and a condition known as upper crossed syndrome(UCS).

Text neck is the term used to describe the neck pain and damage sustained from looking down at your mobile phone, tablet, or other wireless devices too frequently and for too long. However having your head in this position whilst you read, write or work on a desktop computer all has the same effect.

Are you “THINKING WELL??”

Your health and wellness don’t only rely on the physical aspects of your daily routine. Often ignored and just as important as your mental health.

To maintain a healthy lifestyle you need to eat well; perform some form of exercise/activity; rest and relax, and THINK WELL.

For many, 10,000 is a reasonable target because it's ambitious but attainable.

However, depending on your lifestyle, 10,000 may seem discouragingly high.

Chiropractic care for children offers your family a solid foundation for wellness. Throughout pregnancy, birth, and childhood, the ‘chiropractic lifestyle’ offers you and your family greater health and overall well-being.