Depression touches one in three Americans in their lifetime and comes at great personal and economic cost. Current treatment for this problem in America is often impersonal and focuses primarily on psychopharmacology. The impact of depression is enormous in terms of human suffering and economic costs both nationally and globally. Estimates of the yearly economic cost of depressive disorders, in the United States alone, range from 30 to 44 billion dollars (Wells, 1996). Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and World Health Organizations (WHO) have released a five-year study of the leading causes of death worldwide, which reveals that depression was the fourth leading cause of disease-burden in 1990. By 2020, it will be the single leading cause of death worldwide (Murray & Lopez, 1996). It seems that people are unable to cope with hustle and stress in every day life. Daily T.V. commercials talk about depression and the medical treatment for it, most commonly Prozac. (Prozac) Fluoxetine is now one of the top ten most prescribed drugs in the U.S. with 30 million users (Stokes & Holtz, 1997).
Research showed that rats and mice with artificially induced cancer developed an increased rate of tumor growth when they were given Prozac or other antidepressants. Prozac has been implicated in numerous suicides and acts of violence, and can cause nausea, nervousness and insomnia. So, given the facts and the side effects of the medical choice, what are my alternatives?
Nothing is easy in life, and just taking a pill will not solve problems. Health and happiness comes from within, not from an outside force, pill or potion. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a quick fix? We all know that quick fixes are NOT long-term, but the side effects of a drug can be! Getting down to basics can be part of the solution as well as part of our earthly journey. Therapy, change of diet, exercise, and chiropractic care create the foundation for change and is the “alternative” versus the quick fix. The nervous system is the connection between the brain and body. If there is any subluxation, or misalignment, your mental status, attitude and overall quality of life will be affected. In my nine years experience, I have found that people under chiropractic care lead happier, healthier and more productive lives. Certain lifestyle changes are essential: exercise (secret natural endorphins, which are 200 times more powerful than morphine with no side effects), diet changes (no refined sugars, white flour, or artificial sweeteners), and meditation, which creates focus, balance and better connection with yourself. The combination of these will make a huge impact on you and your family life.
In a recent research project, they compared chiropractic care, exercise and anti-depressants. The results showed that the group that exercised and received chiropractic adjustments had the best results with no side effects. One patient said, “After having depression for fifteen years, chiropractic care, along with exercise and the proper diet, has allowed my body to be the happiest and healthiest it’s ever been.”
By taking a pill, people want a quick fix, while the path to health a lot more of a commitment. Remember, in order to have happiness, you must be willing to change.
For additional information, please call Northgate Chiropractic at
(206) 367-224.
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Stress
Stress is the rate of wear and tear on the body as a result of anxiety, worry or exhaustion from a difficult or challenging situation. If the source of the stress isn't found and corrected, it may irritate or damage a person's nervous system, which leads to a wide variety of health problems.
How many people actually understand the origins of stress? And, how many actually understand its influence on their daily lives? Very few people actually understand the destruction that is taking place, not only in their lives, but also to their body.
Dr. Mason in his book The Guide to Stress Reduction states, “Stress is directly or indirectly related to 80-90% of all diseases.” High blood pressure affects at least 15% of the adult population in the U.S. and results in 6,000 deaths per year. It is rarely caused by any single condition, but can be related to emotional and physical factors, such as stress. Hans Selye, leading researcher of the effects of stress upon the body, documented the three stages a person goes through in response to stress:
1. Alarm -- where the body's fight or flight mechanisms are activated;
2. Resistance -- where the body adapts to stress or successfully fights it, returning the body to normal;
3. Exhaustion -- due to prolonged stress, low resistance or malfunction.
These cause the body to secrete adrenal hormones, causing the body to lose its ability to digest. Circulation to the heart is decreased, the body's immune defenses are reduced, and the amount of oxygen carried to cells is limited. The body begins showing signs of dysfunction and is more susceptible to infections and disease, which causes wear and tear on the body. Many people aren't aware of stress until they are confronted with the pains of the symptoms: headaches, fatigue, pain and tension in the neck, shoulders and low back, irritability, allergies, sinus, digestive and sleeping problems.
According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2000 Omnibus "Sleep in America" poll, 67% of adults get fewer than the recommended eight hours of sleep a night; 43% report the lack of sleep interferes with daily activities.
On-the-job stress accounts for some of this worker exhaustion. According to a survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, 46% report their jobs are stressful at least some of the time. Two out of five say that they are always or often stressed by work.
Stress is a part of your life, which cannot be avoided despite the common misconception that it can. All we can do is minimize its implications by knowing how to manage the effects our jobs, money, relationships, children -- and even foods and drugs -- have on our lives. Exercise, meditation and eating properly will also help you manage and deal with stress more efficiently.
Chiropractic adjustments correct the subluxations caused by an overload of stress, which alter posture and the shape of the spine and disrupt the normal function of the body. Correcting subluxations, or misalignments, reduces tension and eliminates the source of stress not only in the spine but also throughout the body and nervous system.
Stress is a good thing and we all need it to survive, but you’re body’s inability to deal with it is what makes it bad. Regular chiropractic adjustments will allow your body to deal with every day stress more efficiently.
For additional information, please call Northgate Chiropractic at
(206) 367-2224.
How many people actually understand the origins of stress? And, how many actually understand its influence on their daily lives? Very few people actually understand the destruction that is taking place, not only in their lives, but also to their body.
Dr. Mason in his book The Guide to Stress Reduction states, “Stress is directly or indirectly related to 80-90% of all diseases.” High blood pressure affects at least 15% of the adult population in the U.S. and results in 6,000 deaths per year. It is rarely caused by any single condition, but can be related to emotional and physical factors, such as stress. Hans Selye, leading researcher of the effects of stress upon the body, documented the three stages a person goes through in response to stress:
1. Alarm -- where the body's fight or flight mechanisms are activated;
2. Resistance -- where the body adapts to stress or successfully fights it, returning the body to normal;
3. Exhaustion -- due to prolonged stress, low resistance or malfunction.
These cause the body to secrete adrenal hormones, causing the body to lose its ability to digest. Circulation to the heart is decreased, the body's immune defenses are reduced, and the amount of oxygen carried to cells is limited. The body begins showing signs of dysfunction and is more susceptible to infections and disease, which causes wear and tear on the body. Many people aren't aware of stress until they are confronted with the pains of the symptoms: headaches, fatigue, pain and tension in the neck, shoulders and low back, irritability, allergies, sinus, digestive and sleeping problems.
According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2000 Omnibus "Sleep in America" poll, 67% of adults get fewer than the recommended eight hours of sleep a night; 43% report the lack of sleep interferes with daily activities.
On-the-job stress accounts for some of this worker exhaustion. According to a survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, 46% report their jobs are stressful at least some of the time. Two out of five say that they are always or often stressed by work.
Stress is a part of your life, which cannot be avoided despite the common misconception that it can. All we can do is minimize its implications by knowing how to manage the effects our jobs, money, relationships, children -- and even foods and drugs -- have on our lives. Exercise, meditation and eating properly will also help you manage and deal with stress more efficiently.
Chiropractic adjustments correct the subluxations caused by an overload of stress, which alter posture and the shape of the spine and disrupt the normal function of the body. Correcting subluxations, or misalignments, reduces tension and eliminates the source of stress not only in the spine but also throughout the body and nervous system.
Stress is a good thing and we all need it to survive, but you’re body’s inability to deal with it is what makes it bad. Regular chiropractic adjustments will allow your body to deal with every day stress more efficiently.
For additional information, please call Northgate Chiropractic at
(206) 367-2224.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Allergies
A healthy immune system means high resistance to disease and infection, an enhanced ability to deal with environmental stresses, and greater health and well-being. The immune system is one of the most complicated, sensitive, and mysterious systems in the body. It is influenced by our neurological and hormonal systems, by our diet, and even by emotional and mental stress. Science's understanding of it is in its infancy, yet many believe it holds the ultimate key to life and health.
Thus we can see that if the immune system were to malfunction we could be in very serious trouble. The most common disorder of the immune system is one that is a lot less frightening: the allergy.
Substances that cause an allergic reaction are called allergens. An allergic reaction (sensitivity) occurs when the immune system overreacts to an allergen and produces too many neutralizing chemicals (especially histamines) to counteract it. Some examples of allergens are dust; pollen; medicines; dog or cat dander; dairy; soaps; detergents and other kitchen chemicals; and even foods like strawberries or chocolate (heaven forbid!).
A common example of an allergy is hayfever. Although most people who breathe ragweed pollen aren't bothered by the microscopic bits of plants that constitute pollen, some have an immune system that overreacts to it. The runny eyes, irritated mucus membranes, redness, pounding in the head, fullness in the sinuses - are produced by the neutralizing chemicals.
The cause of allergies and immune system disease has not been conclusively determined. However, there are those who attribute the proliferation of allergies and other immune system diseases to the mass vaccination campaigns of the past few decades.
Medicine has no cure for allergies, only treatment. According to Robert Mendelsohn, M.D “You can depend on most doctors to largely ignore the cause and instead rush madly to treatment.” Unfortunately, the treatment is often worse than the disease, especially since the relatively safe folk-measures of yesteryear have been replaced by the sophisticated, dangerous drugs of modern medicine.
Overreaction to allergens causes the body to release the chemical histamine (as well as other chemicals) that cause inflammation and other symptoms. Antihistamines are often prescribed to counter these effects. In most cases the antihistamines dry up the nasal passages and decrease the discomfort from itching, but do not correct the immune system overreaction.
Antihistamines, steroid hormones, and long-term desensitization all carry significant negative side effects.
Regarding allergy shots, Dr. Mendelsohn states, "Although millions of patients have received the shots over the past 60 years, there are no, good, long-term studies to determine possible neurologic or other consequences of this treatment." Also mentioned was "a striking incidence of positive 'rheumatoid factors' in allergic children receiving shots.” Clinical studies have shown that breast fed babies have fewer allergy problems than formula-fed babies. Although chiropractic is not a treatment for diseases, allergies included, it does, by permitting the nervous system to function with less stress, permit the immune system to function more effectively - and this is something all allergy sufferers need.
Many studies have revealed the effect of a healthy nervous system on immune system health. Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York's Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine at New York University, measured the immune systems of people under chiropractic care as compared to those in the general population and those with cancer and other serious diseases.
His study found that chiropractic patients have a 200% greater immune competence than people who had not received chiropractic care. Allergies can make people's lives miserable. The standard medical approach may give short-term relief but is controversial and dangerous, and its long-term effects are untested. Common sense tells us to explore the safest, most natural means of dealing with problems before resorting to more extreme measures. A two-fold approach to allergies is often recommended: first, the avoidance of those substances that cause severe reactions and, second, correction of the basic cause - a malfunctioning immune system.
As one authority states, a healthy body is capable of neutralizing these toxic substances and a body which has malfunctioning defense mechanisms cannot. The emphasis on allergies must be on building a healthy body, not on trying to use evasive tactics by eliminating all the allergens."
For additional information, please call Northgate Chiropractic at
(206) 367-2224.
Thus we can see that if the immune system were to malfunction we could be in very serious trouble. The most common disorder of the immune system is one that is a lot less frightening: the allergy.
Substances that cause an allergic reaction are called allergens. An allergic reaction (sensitivity) occurs when the immune system overreacts to an allergen and produces too many neutralizing chemicals (especially histamines) to counteract it. Some examples of allergens are dust; pollen; medicines; dog or cat dander; dairy; soaps; detergents and other kitchen chemicals; and even foods like strawberries or chocolate (heaven forbid!).
A common example of an allergy is hayfever. Although most people who breathe ragweed pollen aren't bothered by the microscopic bits of plants that constitute pollen, some have an immune system that overreacts to it. The runny eyes, irritated mucus membranes, redness, pounding in the head, fullness in the sinuses - are produced by the neutralizing chemicals.
The cause of allergies and immune system disease has not been conclusively determined. However, there are those who attribute the proliferation of allergies and other immune system diseases to the mass vaccination campaigns of the past few decades.
Medicine has no cure for allergies, only treatment. According to Robert Mendelsohn, M.D “You can depend on most doctors to largely ignore the cause and instead rush madly to treatment.” Unfortunately, the treatment is often worse than the disease, especially since the relatively safe folk-measures of yesteryear have been replaced by the sophisticated, dangerous drugs of modern medicine.
Overreaction to allergens causes the body to release the chemical histamine (as well as other chemicals) that cause inflammation and other symptoms. Antihistamines are often prescribed to counter these effects. In most cases the antihistamines dry up the nasal passages and decrease the discomfort from itching, but do not correct the immune system overreaction.
Antihistamines, steroid hormones, and long-term desensitization all carry significant negative side effects.
Regarding allergy shots, Dr. Mendelsohn states, "Although millions of patients have received the shots over the past 60 years, there are no, good, long-term studies to determine possible neurologic or other consequences of this treatment." Also mentioned was "a striking incidence of positive 'rheumatoid factors' in allergic children receiving shots.” Clinical studies have shown that breast fed babies have fewer allergy problems than formula-fed babies. Although chiropractic is not a treatment for diseases, allergies included, it does, by permitting the nervous system to function with less stress, permit the immune system to function more effectively - and this is something all allergy sufferers need.
Many studies have revealed the effect of a healthy nervous system on immune system health. Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York's Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine at New York University, measured the immune systems of people under chiropractic care as compared to those in the general population and those with cancer and other serious diseases.
His study found that chiropractic patients have a 200% greater immune competence than people who had not received chiropractic care. Allergies can make people's lives miserable. The standard medical approach may give short-term relief but is controversial and dangerous, and its long-term effects are untested. Common sense tells us to explore the safest, most natural means of dealing with problems before resorting to more extreme measures. A two-fold approach to allergies is often recommended: first, the avoidance of those substances that cause severe reactions and, second, correction of the basic cause - a malfunctioning immune system.
As one authority states, a healthy body is capable of neutralizing these toxic substances and a body which has malfunctioning defense mechanisms cannot. The emphasis on allergies must be on building a healthy body, not on trying to use evasive tactics by eliminating all the allergens."
For additional information, please call Northgate Chiropractic at
(206) 367-2224.
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