Of course you hear about how your family can have a better life with regular chiropractic care? Simply put: your family is better able to process the stress around you as your brain and nervous system can work better.
When our minds and bodies become overly stressed, there are a multitude of changes in our physiology. The following is a comprehensive, although not absolute, list of known changes that occur when under chronic, unmanaged stress. (Is this is your first time reading this list, it will be staggering.)
- Increased stress hormones (cortisol, catecholamines)
- Increased heart rate
- Increased blood pressure and vasoconstriction
- Increased blood sugar levels
- Increased blood lipid levels
- Increased blood cholesterol (more LDL, less HDL)
- Increased blood clotting factors
- Increased protein breakdown of muscle and connective tissues
- Increased insulin resistance
- Increased feelings of stress, fear, anxiety and depression
- Decreased short-term memory, ability to concentrate and learn new material
- Decreased serotonin levels
- Decreased immunity
- Decreased growth/repair hormones like growth hormone, testosterone, luteinizing hormone, etc.
- Increased sensitivity of body’s sensory systems including those for pain
- Increase bone loss
Simply speaking, your body can be in one of two modes: survive or thrive. When in constant survive mode, your body will eventually break down as it is not meant to stay in this level for a long period of time. When in thrive mode, this is when we best rest, repair, digest, reproduce, and build.
Yet, there is a lot stress in the modern day environment. Stress that is physical, mental/emotional and chemical. Researchers in Japan looked at how Chiropractic changes brain function and nervous system function to reduce stress and increase quality of life. 12 individuals were used. Before and after chiropractic they had positron emission tomography (PET) scans to show activity of brain, measured amylase enzyme in saliva, overall muscle tension. Furthermore, each participant completed a stress response scale.
What did their results show? The PET scans showed increased activity in brains related to autonomic nervous system (the stuff we can’t voluntarily control), relaxation processes of the body, cognition, emotion processing, and attention. The major brain areas were the inferior prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and middle temporal gyrus.
The PET scans also showed decreased brain activity related to mental stress, pain perception, sympathetic fight or flight. These major brain areas were the cerebellar vermis and visual association cortex.
Furthermore, the saliva also showed decreased stress response with all individuals who received chiropractic adjustments as the salivary enzyme decreased. Included with this were more balanced muscle tension and improved quality of life as measured by the survey.
Look, it is impossible to permanently remove all stress from our environments, and nor would we want to as some stress is necessary for us to grow and thrive! Too much stress for too long changes our brains, our hormones and our physiology. This means sicker families, lower quality of life, higher medical expenses and overall less joy. As we see over and over, Chiropractic empowers the body to be stronger, healthier and better deal with the stress around it.
Thank you for trusting us with your family’s health. We are dedicated to keep your family at its best!
