5 Ways to help you kick the sick:

• Stress is one of the worst things for your body and health. In chiropractic care, we look at stress on your body in the form of a subluxation or misalignment and fixation of a joint in your body. This loss of motion will cause decreased proprioception (perception of movement) and increased nociception (noxious stimulation) in your body. This can lead to your body to only be focusing on the “noise” and not able to function optimally. If your body isn’t functioning optimally it puts it more at risk for getting sick or injured. Getting regular chiropractic adjustments can help alleviate this stress.

• Sleep is when your body heals and regenerates itself. Try to make sure you are getting good, well rested sleep.
• During the winter eating well can be difficult between Halloween candy, to Christmas cookies, and Easter candy. It seems the temptations are everywhere. This sugar adds inflammation to your body and sinuses. Now you add in the fact that we aren’t moving around, sweating, and drinking as much water to flush the toxins out. We are creating the perfect environment for viruses and bacteria to grow. To combat this, try to eat as clean, whole foods as much as possible and decreasing the amount of sugar and dairy consumed.
• Hydration is key to your overall health. Water helps to flush out toxins and rejuvenate your cells. Getting adequate water intake can be difficult in the winter this is because it is not as warm outside and we aren’t sweating, which are reminders to keep drinking water. Try to always have a water bottle present as a constant reminder to keep drinking!
• Supplementation can be another helpful tool to build up your defenses and strengthen your immune system. We put special emphasis on vitamin D because here in Minnesota during the winter months, its not possible to get enough vitamin D from the sun! (Why do we live here again?!?)

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin in a family of compounds that includes vitamins D-1, D-2, and D-3. Our bodies make vitamin D by converting vitamin D2 to D3 (the active form). To do this conversion sunlight is needed and as already mentioned in the winter, we are not able to do this in MN. Vitamin D is important in building the immune system in our bodies. If you want to know more of the scientific details into how it up-regulates our immune system, read the links below! If you are wanting to supplement with Vitamin D, we have a great liquid option in our office. It is tasteless and easy for kids to take. Be sure to talk with your doctor before starting any supplements.

We are all in this together!!

If you have any tips or tricks that have worked for your family please share them, so we can help make our entire community as healthy as possible.

Resources:

1. Hossein-nezhad A, Spira A, Holick MF. Influence of vitamin D status and vitamin D3 supplementation on genome wide expression of white blood cells: a randomized double-blind clinical trial. PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e58725.

2. Cannell JJ, Vieth R, Umhau JC, Holick MF, Grant WB, Madronich S, Garland CF, Giovannucci E. Epidemic influenza and vitamin D. Epidemiol Infect. 2006 Dec;134(6):1129-40