November, 2012
THE HOULE CHRONICLE
The Power of Habit
As we move smoothly throughthe month of November, the leaves have fallen and the temperature has started to drop drastically. There seems to be fewer sunny days and the cloudy days make it harder to motivate ourselves to go outand do something. It seems easier to just sit down and watch TV but the human body needs to depend on its power to mentally adapt to seasonal changes.
This is a good time to discuss how to deal with the obstacles that Mother Nature seems to throw at us on a daily basis. An easy, simple trick would be to establishsome form of “habit” where you commit yourself to do what is on your agenda and stick to it, no excuses! As we move closer to the winter season, it’s time to develop your habit to optimize your health. Think of theacronym SMART(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) to set up your goals and get to work developing your habit.
When you were raisingyour kids, you realized how important it was to establish some daily routine to train them to get their stuff done. At first, you had to keep a close eye on them to reinforce the routine until they finally didn’t require your constant attention because it had become a habit for them to do it.
In our adult life, we have to adopt the same principle to schedule things we want/need to get done but never seem to have the time to do. Get into the habit of setting your appointments or “things to do” first on your daily calendar and thenwork around those set times to fill up your agenda. The important things will then be taken care of, and the remainingtasks will get scheduled in the residual available time. It just takes care of itself because we set up the habit of doing it like automaticwithdrawals, regular appointments orsetting time to do physical activity. Never say “you don’t have time” because if it’s important to you or your health, you have to make the time!
As we move into our senior years, if we had a lot of routine habit established, our body will function as if it was on cruise control. Sadly as we get older, routine and habits arenot so good if you want your brain functioning at optimum levels. Research has demonstrated that we have to create new stress or different stimuli to keep the brain alert as stress/stimuli makes the brain rewrite connections between sensory cells and sensory centers that might have gone dormant from not being used. Think in terms of pruning - unused nerve pathways become like old branches and the brain prunes thembutthe nerve pathways that are used a lot become highly sensitive and end up taking more room on your brain. This is the reason why some areas of your body will show high nerve activity with muscle tightness where you’ve had a lot of mental activities.
There are 2 major benefits that you will be rewarded with by havingchiropractic adjustmentson aregular basis. First, your spine and your body will improve its mobility and therefore maintain the ability to move and respond better to external stress. Second, a chiropractic adjustment will release those areas of your spine where you have sustained previous injuries or where your lifestyle has overloaded your nervous system. As well, a spinal adjustment where needed will provide a neurological stimulation to the vertebral unit stimulating your central nervous system at the brain level. So let’s all make the commitment to form the habit of taking care of ourselves which will allow us to better take care of the rest of our lives!
There are only six weeks left until the end of the year. If you have any coverage remaining in your health benefit account, or you were thinking of ordering orthotics before the end of the year, now is the time to set up an appointment to do so! Remember to set the commitment to form the habit of taking care of you during the stressful hectic holiday times and all year through - so call us to reserve your appointment time now!
A large part of our chiropractic care mandate is to educate the public about the benefits of a natural, drug-free approach to good health. We have recently been involved in several community Health & Wellness programs with the City of Markham and the Town of Richmond Hill and corporate Lunch & Learn seminars with local businesses. We are passionately dedicated to sharing information with our community and if you would like to spend one lunch hour at work learning more about the benefits of chiropractic care, please contact us and we would be pleased to set it up with your Human Resources department. We also hold monthly classes at the office for new patients and information sessions for all patients – we would love to see you bring a family member, friend or co-worker. See our website for more details and call us to reserve your spot.
UPCOMING CLASSES
Spinal care class
December 3rd, 2012 from 7:15pm-8:00pm
Stress Management class
December 10th, 2012 from 7:15pm-8:00pm
Yours in good health
Dr. Normand Houle, D.C.
1 Hollingham Road,
Unionville, ON L3R 7Y1
Bus# 905 470-0770
Fax# 905 940-1473