"I Slept Wrong" Is Code for I Am In Denial

(Image Courtesy: Keystone Chiropractic)

I've heard this at least once a month if not more often from practice members, "I slept wrong."

People say it so often it is taken for granted.  It is like the boy who cried wolf so many times that no one noticed him anymore.

Yes, I slept wrong last night, and it didn't happen by accident. I woke up today with a sharp ache in my my right shoulder blade.  It was a reminder that I did not follow my usual routine and now I am paying for it. 

I really didn't sleep wrong.  I did a lot of things wrong.  For starters, I stayed up until it was close to midnight.  I typically go to bed at 9:30.   

Also, I seemed to graze all day long, snacking on almond butter and coconut milk.  That doesn't sound too bad, but my intermittent fasting went out the window.  

I didn't eat dinner until after 8 PM.  So, the evening just keeps getting worse. I was in Ithaca and stopped at Green Star to grab something from the hot bar.  And grab, I sure did.  I got a small carton of turkey salad.  Then I noticed some nice samplings of Indian cuisine made with coconut sauce, and another dish with spinach and chick peas.  I couldn't resist a dark chocolate tart either. 

I also took a few bites of my son's chocolate whoopie cookie.  It told him it was made with healthy ingredients.  He was almost in a panic.  He said, "No way."  Well, it was till sweet and carby, but not artificial.  

When I get to bed late I can wake up with a mountainous head ache.  This morning I was lucky.  I felt very dehydrated and stiff.  I managed to escape the head pain.  I don't mean to joke about it, since I know so many people suffer with persistent headaches. I knew I was risking it because I want to stay up on weekends like everyone else.  However, it is just not a smart practice. 

I did not skip my usual bedtime supplements and I believe that helped me stave off the dreaded "I Slept Wrong," scenario.  I take Min-Tran, Min-Chex or Bio-Dent before bed. 

(If you want to know more about my health routine, just ask at your next appointment.)

When people come to me and say they slept wrong, it is usually the straw that broke the camel's back.  Alleviating the muscle tension with an adjustment is helpful, but they have to admit they are constantly feeding the fire of inflammation that gives them pain, brain fog, and low energy.  

There is never one cause.  It is a complex formula of stresses until the body finally throws in the towel and falls down on the job.  It is the perfect storm, as they say.  

The body's sensory system has a high tolerance level.  You can suffer incredible tissue damage in the organs and muscles before you are finally alerted with an uncomfortable and disruptive pain process. 

Mechanical stressors are easy to figure out.  It takes more honest introspection to admit you are exposing yourself to chemical and emotional stress, as well.  They all damage the body the same way.  

Most of the stress we ignore is the stress that requires us to seriously evaluate our lives.  Work demands, family squabbles, and financial difficulty are health wreckers.  If we don't have the courage to face them, our bodies break down.  

Denial is a disease. 

How did I go from a lousy pillow to a life crisis?  

The Perfect Storm......

Let's take care of it.  Take the negative and learn from it.  There so many ways we can incorporate the positive.  First, help your brain with a nice batch of chiropractic adjustments over the next month. 

See you at the table... the adjusting table. 
--Dr. Lisa
--Your Health Freedom Advocate

Why Healthy People Are Lonely

Is it difficult to do healthy things because no one else wants to do it with you?   Do people argue with you when you explain why you want to maintain your health gains?  

This really hit home with me when I read  a recent blog from Mark's Daily Apple titled: I feel better than I ever did in my life. 
The writer said she was almost divorced when she got healthy and her closest family members got sicker. I hate to see people suffer.  Of course, no one wants to see their loved ones suffer, but it's a tricky situation.

I have many practice members who tell their friends when they are going to the chiropractor the response is, "What's wrong with you?"  When they explain they don't have any major problems, the idea of maintenance falls on deaf ears.   

I was ridiculed for running so much.  I really liked to run.  I wondered why people don't ask me questions out of curiosity?  Why do the comments have to be so mean?

So, if you have a devoted work out partner, you are very lucky. 

Diet is another emotionally charged subject.  I was reading a DietDoctor.com poll on Facebook asking people what is the strangest comment they've heard from people regarding their low carb/keto life style.  

One person mentioned how she was doing with intermittent fasting and someone told her it sounded too expensive.  

Another person said friends don't ask her to eat at restaurants anymore and another is left out of vacations because their choices are too problematic.  

How about the person who has quit smoking?  Many typical activities are now off limits in order to avoid temptation. 

Why do we feel less support?  Why do we have to turn to internet friendships when those closest to us don't share our enthusiasm?

I don't have many good answers to the why question.  But I can offer support.  If you are a practice member at my office, you are not alone.  There are plenty of folks who have goals that are similar to yours. You'll find it in the waiting room.  So, don't be shy.  Strike up a conversation.  

See you soon. 
Dr. Lisa

Read Next:  What Happens When There's No Time?

Blast from the past:  How Anguish Fueled a Mission

There's No Time

Are you running out of time?

How do you determine what is important for your to-do list?
What essential tasks get pushed aside?

Everyone around you gets something from you, and little time is left for you to replenish your health.

Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day.  (168 hours in a week)

I know, you've heard that before.  The ultra perfect people in your life make you feel bad by harping on this. 

I run out of time almost everyday I'm in the office.  Life is stressful and folks come in the office so drained, they can barely feel present enough to receive their adjustment in a relaxed manner.

What is it like adjusting a body that can't relax?
It saddens me.
It's like working on a car with rusted out parts.  Are my efforts going to be effective?

People come in to get immediate relief from an adjustment.  They can breathe deeper to get more oxygen circulating.  Their muscles can feel looser.  They can move with more ease.  Their brain can get out of a hyper state to function better in a calmer state.  Brain waves always improve with an adjustment. The domino effect on someone's life is profound.

But the stress is still there. The adjustment may only have temporary effects when  the body is being drowned by recurring interference.  

I need more time to teach people.  But I also need refreshed brains who can receive the information.  

Will you help me save time?

Watch this video that let's us know what hidden stresses are the most challenging.  The fixes are very reasonable, but you can't fix it until you are aware of it.

Come to your next adjustment appointment with your questions so you can move forward.   I want to adjust a body that has an inspired potential.  Feel the difference ASAP! 

Read how your adjustment can clear out the destructive pattern of learned helplessness.

When Your Nervous System Picks Up the Bad Habit of Learned Helplessness

When the brain is overwhelmed, nerve signals reinforce a learned helplessness.  This is why people know they need to do things differently but can't seem to get past that stuck intertia.

When you are stressed, cortisol is released and it purposely drives blood away from your brain.  How can you make well, thought out decisions in a deprived state of mind?

                                                             

De-stress your Emotional Network

Emotions are a survival mechanism. The brain efficiently embeds physical responses to emotions that are repeated over time. (You've heard of fake news, right? How about fake brain misreading signals?)

When a current emotion matches a cataloged emotional memory from the past, the limbic system can initiate over-exaggerated body responses.

Nervous System Confusion is an invisible reason for being unwell.

Chronic fatigue

 IBS

Fibromyalgia

 Inflammatory conditions

Mold sensitivity

Natural approaches don't work for you

Electronic sensitivity 

Unexpected negative response to supplements

 Unexpected negative response to a nutritional detox

Sound sensitivity

Food sensitivity

Light sensitivity

Vagus Nerve Dysfunction also follows suit:

chronic pain heart rate changes digestive issues

auto-immune dysfunction speech difficulty phase I detox issues

anxiety blood pressure changes learning difficulty

depression sweating memory problems

breathing problems poor liver function

throat problems

A  S.T. A.R. Session can help you shift gears.

STAR stands for soft tissue adhesion release and stress taming adrenal re-wiring. 

It is a 30 minute extended adjustment session to relax the limbic system.

Harness your nervous system to work for you not against you.

Limbic Systems Boosting during a STAR Session: - deeper breathing   - adjustment reinforces calmness, brain gets a reboot. -Ess. Oils aromatherapy   - visualization, guided imagery, recruit new nerve - stillness, silence patterns to replace unwanted patterns while relaxed - tuning fork deep relaxation Neurons that fire together, wire together. STAR Sessions set a stage for new learning in the brain.

Set up an appointment today.

Helpful Books:

The End of Stress by Don Joseph Goewey 

 They Can't Find Anything Wrong by David Clarke

Back in Control by David Hanscom 

Wired for Healing by Annie Hopper

Are Your Suffering from "Survival Tension?"

How to Combat

“Survival Tension”

AKA: Survival Responses Gone Awry

Nagging soreness, stiffness Chronic pain Fatigue

Brain fog Memory problems

Digestive distress / IBS 

 Anxious worry

The Chiropractic Health Building Life Style offers you a comprehensive way to give your body what it needs to thrive!!!

Feeling stuck? Want more energy?

Chiropractic with Nutrition clears out most unwanted body patterns.

Sometimes your Emotional Network needs additional attention

Emotions are part of the body's survival mechanism, designed to work with great efficiency in your nervous system.

The brain will turn on certain physical responses when similar emotions are repeated over time.

We can utilize some Overlapping Techniques with your chiropractic care to release these deeper engrained body responses.

Ask for the Chiropractic Health Building Life Style Summary Sheet for more details

Dr. Lisa's Reading List

Check out these nice reads to keep the momentum going.  A good book will keep you inspired on the wellness journey.  (This is part of the "I" in my BRAIN mnemonic.  More on that later.)

Also, from this list there are 3 titles I haven't read yet.  If you get to them before me, be sure to tell me what I am missing.

Chiropractic

Chiropractic First

I Stand Amazed by Geri L. Carlson

Chicken Soup for the Chiropractic Soul

Wake Up, Humans by Steve Judson

The Reality Check, by Heidi Haavik

Chiropractic in a Wellness Plan

The 100 Year Lifestyle

Discover Wellness: How Staying Healthy Can Make You Rich

Inflammation, Chronic Pain, Chronic Disease

The Deflame Diet

Back to the Basics of Human Health, by Mary Frost

The Autoimmune Solution by Amy Myers

Back in Control by David Hanscom

Nutrition

The Deflame Diet

How to Cure Diabetes, by Sherry Rogers (good book for all, not just the diabetic)

The Obesity Code

Low Carb

Life Without Bread

The Deflame Diet

Primal Body Primal Mind

The Primal Blueprint

Brain Programming / Welcoming Positive Change

The Brain that Changes Itself

Cure: A Journey in to the Science of Mind Over Body

Back in Control by David Hanscom

Change or Die

Primal Body Primal Mind

Why Isn't My Brain Working? By Datis Kharrazian (Read Chapter 1 & 21 first)

Auto-immune Disorders / Leaky Gut

The Autoimmune Solution by Amy Myers

The Deflame Diet

Primal Body Primal Mind

Better Life with a Brain Upgrade - Part 1

Brain-Gain is the goal of chiropractic. 

The chiropractic adjustment is how we access the brain via the spine so your innate intelligence can deliver living impulses to the rest of the body.

But, your innate intelligence NEEDS a receptive body, including the brain.  



Can your organs and tissues receive these living messages?

Give your body the best:


B    bed, brake

R    repeat, reinforce, rewire, replace

A    adjustments, activity, AAA Awareness

I     information

N    nutrition


So, for Part 1 of this blog series, I will explain the "B" part of my brain mnemonic.  

Bed
This seems obvious, I hope.  Good sleep where you go to bed at the same time every night, (that does not mean stay up late on weekends) is crucial for health.  When you skimp on sleep, your body just doesn't keep up. And you feel it. 

In our society, you are nearly heroic if you keep yourself so busy that you supposedly get by on only a few hours of sleep a night.  To understand the problem of sleep deprivation, google: American Academy of Sleep Medicine and sleep deprivation to get nice resource/ fact sheet.

Many people find it hard to sleep due to pain, so keeping focused on the entire Brain-Gain plan can help.  The benefits are overlapping. 

Brake
"Brake" is a certain mind-set  to help you take ownership of a new health experience.   An important aspect of protecting your brain from stress is realizing you cannot shift gears without slowing down first. Shifting gears gives you a new journey, but it requires a mental commitment and then making changes to your plate.  You can't do that without slowing down to make new plans. 

So if you're ready to move forward in your brain health, stay tuned for Part 2 in the Brain-Gain Series.