Tips To Get a Grip on Stress in Federal Way

Stress affects people of all ages, all sizes and shapes, in all sorts of environments, and at all ages...even children.  A study reprinted years ago showed that on average toddlers laugh 400 times a day, while adults only laugh 15 times a day.  Other research at Loma Linda University shows that comedy, producing laughter, has the ability to lower your body's blood pressure and increase your immune system by lowering your body's level of stress.  If we ever hope to deal more effectively with stress, all of us need to learn how to laugh more!

Ok so laughing is good, but what exactly is stress?  One defines it as this, "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."  You see stress can be mental or emotional.  It can make you feel anxious, worried, fearful and even angry.  Stress can also be chemical.  In fact, many Americans try to counter the chemical effects of stress by taking more chemicals such as drugs or alcohol.  According to the latest statistics, over 75 billion dollars are spent each year on LEGAL drugs.  Of the 75 billion dollars, about half, or 40 billion dollars are spent each year trying to help reduce stress induced problems.  Finally, stress can also be physical.  Is there any doubt that stress can cause muscle tension, neck pain, back pain, low back pain,  stomach ulcers, and even heart attacks?  I think that we can agree that stress most definitely can be physical.

I can hear you thinking it!  So what does this mean?  A study was performed in Carnegie-Mellon University, in which the cold virus was sprayed into the noses of 400 volunteers, those volunteers with high stress in their lives were twice as likely to develop colds.  But this makes sense though doesn't it?  Think about it, when are you more likely to come down with a cold or the flu?  When your feeling good, healthy, strong, and on top of the world, or when your more depressed, worried, or fearful?  You see it is not good to live a stressful life, next we will go over some of the primary symptoms of stress.  They are as follows, headaches, fatigue, pain and tension throughout the neck and shoulders, low back pain, irritability, sleep problems, digestive problems, allergies and sinus troubles.

If you suffer from more than one stress symptom, or are having symptoms more than once per week, your body has a stress disorder.  Another way to determine if your body is suffering from stress is the presence of local areas of nerve irritation and muscle spasm, called trigger points.  Trigger points are tender areas along your spine, including your neck, shoulders, mid and lower back areas that indicate irritated nerves.  As stress increases in your life, so does the presence of this nerve irritation that leads to muscle reaction in the form of knots or painful areas in your muscles.

If this is starting to sound like you and you're wondering "what can I do?" this next section are the tips to help you Get a Grip on Stress.  There are five steps, or "tips" to help you take more control of your life, reduce stress, and start having more fun!  First off...

IDENTIFY THE STRESS
In beginning to manage stress, it is very important that you first of all, ask yourself a question.  What are you dealing with?  Because if you first of all ask yourself this question and then come up with the answer, you at least now have a starting point towards taking control of your life.  Next develop a WIN attitude, because when you adopt a "What's important now" attitude, you stop worrying about "what was", and you start planning "what will be".  Thirdly, focus on what you want instead of spending too much time thinking about what you don't want. Appreciate what you have… think more about what you want… and you create much more positive energy that attracts more good things into your life than if you worry about the “bad” stuff that could happen in your life. Most people spend more time thinking about what’s missing in life instead of focusing on what they have.

PROPER EXERCISE
The second step toward managing stress is to exercise. Start engaging in some sort of exercise program. For some, exercise is a form of relaxation. My recommendation??? Start walking! California State University found that a 10-minute walk is enough to increase your energy, alter your mood, and create a positive outlook for up to two hours. Another recent study showed that women who walked 20 minutes four days per week were much less likely to develop breast cancer. So if there is any sort of cancer in your family and especially for you ladies where breast cancer has already been found in your family, doesn’t it make good sense to just start to walk. Twenty minutes, four days a week is all it takes. Finally a seven year study by the University of Minnesota involving 12,000 men found that those who walked or did similar exercises for an average for just 20 minutes a day were 37% less likely to die from Coronary disease compared to those who exercised less. You see the nice thing about walking, is it’s cheap. You don’t have to go out and spend four, five or six hundred dollars on a stationary bicycle or some other piece of equipment. Most people stop using their exercise equipment within a couple of months and eventually end up using their stationary bike to hang laundry over in their basement. Start exercising! Walking is a wonderful way to exercise.

PROPER REST
The third step toward managing stress is to get plenty of rest. Now, “plenty of rest” means something different for every person. Some people can get by on six hours of sleep and some need ten. * But it’s not only important to allow your body to receive adequate rest, you should also pay attention to how and * where you rest.  Make sure you are sleeping on a good firm mattress. Every three months, make sure you flip and/or rotate the mattress for the best possible support and use a good pillow. There are special pillows designed to give your neck extra support where it needs it. Sleep on your back, or sleep on your side. NOT on your stomach! If you want to sleep on your back, make sure you put a pillow underneath your knees to allow your knees to bend slightly. This will take pressure off your back and hip joints. If you sleep on your side, do the same thing. Put a pillow between your knees to take pressure off your hips. Doctors recommend this for their pregnant patients all the time. This makes the hip and back joints much more comfortable. Here is a news flash … you don’t have to be pregnant in order to put a pillow between your knees and let it be good for your lower back and hips! Putting a pillow between your knees when you are sleeping is another good habit to get into.

PROPER NUTRITION
Proper nutrition is the fourth step toward managing stress more effectively. The first thing I would like to tell you about proper nutrition, is drink more water. Over 90 % of your body’s tissues are composed of water. If you want to keep your tissues soft, moist, and healthy, then drink more water. The formula that I recommend you use is that for every two pounds of weight, you are, you drink one ounce of water. So if you weigh 150 pounds you need to drink 75 ounces of water per day. If each glass of water was like a 12 ounce can of pop, you would have to drink somewhere around 6 glasses of water per day. I know that sounds like a lot, but again one of the best ways to take care of your body and keep it healthy is to drink more water.  We all know that we need to eat healthier so introduce vegetables, lean protein, and some fruit into your diet.  In addition, nutritional supplements are an excellent idea to help with your nutrition needs.

PROPER FUNCTIONING NERVOUS SYSTEM
Finally the fifth step toward managing stress effectively is developing a proper functioning nervous system. Has anyone ever had a pebble in his or her shoe? You know how that can irritate your foot? Well see, the pebble is actually irritating a nerve and nerves are extremely sensitive tissue.  Even a minor irritation to a spinal nerve cannot only cause tension, pain, and numbness, but also all of the other symptoms associated with stress. Keep in mind that stress usually attacks your body in areas of greatest weakness. For example, a person with a weak stomach under stress, develops stomach symptoms. A person with a damaged neck under stress develops headaches, and a person with a weak or damaged lower back, under stress develops lower back pain. One of the things that can cause stress and/or irritation on the nervous system is a misaligned spine.  When the vertebrae shift out of position they irritate the nerve, this is called a subluxation. Literally the nerves then start to shrink, shrivel up and die. Now let me ask you a question, which nerve would you rather have in your body carrying electrical impulses to your body parts…a big thick, juicy, healthy functioning nerve or an impinged, skinny, shriveled, sickly looking thing?  Besides stress, subluxations can cause many different kinds of health problems. One of them is back problems. So how do you correct this "subluxation" or nerve irritation?  An excellent option is chiropractic, you see most people think of chiropractors as bone doctors, but in reality...they are nerve doctors.  They remove the irritation on or around the nerve!  Having your nervous system working as good as it can by removing spinal misalignments won’t just help people perform better athletically, it will help you perform better in life! And when you can reduce the harmful effects of stress by first of all identifying the problem, and then eating right, exercising, and resting properly, you can have much more fun doing whatever it is you enjoy doing most in life longer. And that’s what it’s all about.

Hopefully with this information you can get a grip on stress!

If you have additional questions or would like to get checked at our office, visit our website
http://www.healthsourceoffederalway.com/ for a special offer!

50 Quotes to Inspire and Make You Think!

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."


Art Linkletter

Radio and TV Personality

"Sometimes you've got to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything - whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out."

Tina Turner

"When you paint success pictures in your mind, you initiate an inner process whereby your attitudes, hopes, aspirations, and enthusiasm are elevated in response to an image of a more promising future. Every person who aspires must first sell themselves hope, the promise of a better life."

U.S. Andersen

"The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better."

Barbara Pletcher

"I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will."

Clint Eastwood

"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."

Lewis L. Dunnington

Author

"Defeat is a state of mind. No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as reality. To me, defeat in anything is merely temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to greater effort to achieve my goal. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth."

Bruce Lee

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.

-- Woodrow Wilson

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue prints of your ultimate achievements."

Napoleon Hill

1883-1970, Author of Think and Grow Rich

"Do you realize that your life at this very moment is the result of everything that you have ever thought, done, believed or felt up until now? You can start right now to consciously and deliberately attract whatever you desire in this lifetime."

Jack Canfield

"All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible."

Orison Swett Marden

"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing."

Michael E. Gerber

Author of the E-Myth Revisited

"Winning is not a sometime thing; It's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time."

Vince Lombardi



"Action makes more fortune than caution."

Luc DeClapiers

"The money I have is in direct proportion to the value I've given to others. The more I give of myself, incredibly, the more economic power comes my way."

Tod Barnhart

Author

"The prizes go to those who meet emergencies successfully. And the way to meet emergencies is to do each daily task the best we can."

William Feather

1889-1981, Publisher and Author

"When you're 'happy for no reason,' you bring happiness to your everyday experiences rather than try to extract happiness from them. It's not that your life always looks perfect - it's that however it looks, you'll still be happy!"

Marci Shimoff, Author of Happy For No Reason

"Really big people are, above everything else, courteous, considerate and generous - not just to some people in some circumstances - but to everyone all the time."

Thomas J. Watson

1874-1956, Founder of IBM

"Every decision you make - every decision - is not a decision about what to do. It's a decision about Who You Are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do."

Neale Donald Walsch

Author of Conversations With God





"Remember, success is not measured by heights attained but by obstacles overcome. We're going to pass through many obstacles in our lives: good days, bad days. But the successful person will overcome those obstacles and constantly move forward."

Bruce Jenner

"I believe the best leaders are the ones that are focused on bringing out the best in their people - transforming lives. When someone has that as their purpose, the profits just naturally follow."

Susan Bagyura

"It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action."

Al Batt

"Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing, that we see too late the one that is open."

Alexander Graham Bell

1847-1922, Inventor

"Every memorable act in the history of the world is a triumph of enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever achieved without it because it gives any challenge or any occupation, no matter how frightening or difficult, a new meaning. Without enthusiasm you are doomed to a life of mediocrity but with it you can accomplish miracles."

Og Mandino

“When you are tough on yourself, life is infinitely easier on you.”

Zig Ziglar

"The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it."

Debbi Fields

Founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

Martin Luther King. Jr.

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves."

Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."

Helen Keller

1880-1968

"Commitment with accountability closes the gap between intention and results."

Sandra Gallagher

Co-Author of Thinking Into Results

"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."

Kenny Rogers

“It’s an easy thing to sit up and take notice, it takes courage to stand up and take action.”

David Neubauer D.C.

"We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service."

Earl Nightingale

"If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work."

Thomas J. Watson

1874-1956, Founder of IBM

"The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better."

Barbara Pletcher

Author

"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver."

Barbara De Angelis

"The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might of the force of habit and must understand that practices are what create habits. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires."

J. Paul Getty

1892-1976, American Oil Tycoon

"There is nothing you can't do, if you set your mind to it. Anything is possible."

Rick Hansen

Wheelchair Athlete, Speaker and Author

"The possibility of stepping into a higher plane is quite real for everyone. It requires no force or effort or sacrifice. It involves little more than changing our ideas about what is normal."

Deepak Chopra

Author and Speaker

"If you make the unconditional commitment to reach your most important goals, if the strength of your decision is sufficient, you will find the way and the power to achieve your goals."

Robert Conklin

Teacher, Author and Speaker

"The kinder and more thoughtful a person is, the more kindness they can find in other people."

Leo Tolstoy

1828-1910, Novelist and Philosopher

"You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down."

Mary Pickford

1893-1979, Actress and Producer

"We've all heard that we have to learn from our mistakes, but I think it's more important to learn from successes. If you learn only from your mistakes, you are inclined to learn only errors."

Norman Vincent Peale

1898-1993, Pastor and Author

"Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd; a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more."

A. Lou Vickery

Writer

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day."

Sally Koch

Author

"In every success story, you find someone who has made a courageous decision."

Peter F. Drucker

Management Consultant and Author

"Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

1855-1919, Poet and Journalist

"Only those who constantly retool themselves stand a chance of staying employed in the years ahead."

Tom Peters

Author

"One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered."

Michael J. Fox

Enjoy!

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Facts About Headaches

Headaches are NOT the result of an aspirin shortage! 

If you suffer from headaches, you are most definitely not alone.  Here are some of the more common types of headaches...

TENSION HEADACHES

This is the most common type of headache, and is caused by muscle strain, muscle contraction, or muscle tension.  These type of headaches usually occur on the forehead, or the back of the head and neck.  Pain from these type of headaches is usually described as a dull ache, or when their muscles "tighten and grab" and this creates the headache.  There are many causes of these types of headaches, deyhydration, muscle tension/spasm, diet, work activities, poor posture, or stress.

MIGRAINE HEADACHES

Migraine headaches occur when the blood vessels of the head dilate or expand and put pressure on nerve endings.  Symptoms of Migraine headaches are an "aura" which is described as unusual visual sensations, also included are nausea, vomitting, cold hands, and overall exhaustion.

Nine out of ten Americans suffer from headaches, are you one of them?  How do you handle or treat your headaches?  Lie down?  Aspirin?  Chiropractic is a very effective way to treat all sorts of headaches.  If you would like more information on headaches or overall health, visit our website.

http://www.healthsourceoffederalway.com/

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5 Lies About Low Back Pain You Need To Know...

Does it Feel Like a Toothache in Your Leg or Thigh? Do You Have Hip Pain? Are You As Stiff As a Board When You Try to Get Up From a Chair?  Then read on about the 5 Lies the high priced medical clinics don't want you to know!

MYTH #1: Sciatica (pain down your leg) is always caused by a herniated disc! No way...even though most doctors will sell you a $3,000 MRI at the first sign of leg pain. But they don’t tell you about a 5-inch muscle in the hip that can squeeze the sciatic nerve. And it feels EXACTLY like you’ve got the worst slipped disc
on earth. It’s a major discovery and...The good news is that it can be easy and inexpensive to
correct! How? Just keep reading!
MYTH #2: Stiffness from Arthritis means you’re getting old...and it must be the reason for all your
pain and stiffness! Not true, because thousands of folks with arthritis in their backs have absolutely NO PAIN! Then why do YOU feel like your back will snap if you bend forward or twist too fast?
Because the truth is:
Your stiffness may be caused by a hidden, even more dangerous problem than arthritis, and it can lead to a hip replacement!
You see, most folks believe that something mysterious (like maybe an “arthritis fairy”?) waved a wand over them, and they’re cursed... doomed to suffer forever. But did you know that many arthritis problems are CAUSED by a combination of unseen imbalances in the spine and surrounding muscles. It’s a common cause of hip replacements but not that hard to correct if we catch it in time. It’s like the tires on your car...
If the alignment is off just a teeny-weeny bit, at first you don’t notice, but over a few thousand miles you start to see signs of wear...that is, if you’re lucky enough to catch it before a flat on the freeway ruins your day. In your spine, you’re lucky if you catch untreated imbalances before they ruin your spine!
How to fix them? Just look at Myth #3.
MYTH #3: Your Back is “Out”!Sure, that’s exactly how it feels. But old-fashioned chiropractors (the ones who only ‘crack’ your back) really thought the spine worked this way. Now we know better. You see, there are 7 different reasons for that painful, locked-up and stuck feeling that causes so much misery:
- low grade spasm -pelvis torque and tension -imbalance of hips -fallen or dropped arches -stiff vertebra joint -adhesions in leg muscles -pinched nerve
It’s NOT just your spine, and it’s NOT just your muscles. As a matter of fact, if one of the major muscles that stabilize the spine is partly spasmed, a “2nd stringer” will have to carry the load. But this is a serious problem... It’s like having your plumber doing all the dangerous electrical work!
Sure, he may get it done, and it may work at first, but how long until there’s a fire? Or your back locks up? Which leads us to our next myth:
MYTH #4: “It’s Only a Muscle!”
Boy, it’s scary how many people think muscle problems are no big deal. Unfortunately, tight, bound-up, and spasmed or tight muscles can wear out joints faster than you can say, “Charley Horse”! That’s why it’s important to examine the spine AT THE SAME TIME as the muscles that control it. It’s also why we’ve
had such outrageous success with even the worst backs at HealthSource Chiropractic™. Because we deal with BOTH the spine and muscles at the same time. We have spine doctors (chiropractors) and muscle professionals (therapists) and together they deliver the absolute best way to help “bad backs”...EVER!!
This ties right in with Myth #5...
MYTH #5: “Muscle Relaxants” will help your muscles heal! Good grief, NO!
Your muscles tighten up for a reason, and muscle relaxants are like turning back the clock on a timebomb...
you know it’s still going to blow up! Sure, you may feel better now, but you’ll pay later...and pay “in spades”! So don’t fall for these lies about your low back. They’ll keep you hurting, frustrated and exhausted—forever!

Does This Sound Like You?  Have You Run Out of Hope?

Whether or not you feel pain right now, let our team of doctors find out if you qualify for treatment with a FREE 19-point, detailed service screening (a $189 value) that’ll identify even the smallest of problems.
THERE’S NO OTHER OBLIGATION and you’re guaranteed to get in today! Once we track down your
pain, we’ll work on getting you back to doing the things you love to do.

P.S.  In addition to the screening, call before 08/31/2010 and receive a FREE 1/4 hr. massage with your exam.  253.874.2100

Start on your road towards recovery TODAY!

HealthSource of Federal Way

28% of Everybody In The Hospital Are There Because...

BECAUSE of the medication they are taking!  According to the American Medical Association (AMA) more than 200,000 people die each year from PROPERLY prescribed medication...8.8 million people IN the hospital are there because of a serious reaction to medication.  Scary stuff right?  Did you know that the average american fills 11.1 prescriptions per year?  There is a better way to treat pain and illness.  American's are leaning more towards natural methods of healing.  At our clinic we use what is called Progressive Rehabilitation in conjuction with Chiropractic to help treat not only pain, but other issues as well.  Chiropractic has been know to help with bedwetting, rough menstrual cycles, IBS, and much more.  If you or someone you know is suffering from symptoms and would like to try a different type of treatment other than medication give us a call or follow the link below.  Here are some more interesting statistics for you...every 21 seconds someone suffers a heart attack...every 31 seconds someone dies from a heart attack...for every 4 Americans, one is diagnosed with cancer...In 2008, experts predicted more than 565,000 Americans would die from cancer...97% of American's can't remember when they ate their last salad and less than 40% exercise even close to a regular basis.  THERE IS A BETTER WAY, EDUCATE YOURSELF!  Have a wonderful day!

HealthSource of Federal Way

Here is a short video about our office.  Feel free to ask me any questions you may have, thanks for looking and have a great day!