Author: Marshal Montgomery | Bremer Chiropractic
Whether you are looking to optimize your body’s natural healing ability, or you are looking to help speed along your recovery from injury or illness, these tips may help you reach your goals more completely and rapidly. Additionally, you have an opportunity to participate in your recovery, rather than sitting by waiting for something to happen. Practitioners are not prescient nor omniscient, so we can’t read your minds and we don’t know everything. You should be your own best advocate, so if you have questions, make sure you ask. These are general guidelines that may need to be modified to suit you.
Persistent consistency
Following your care recommendations as they are given will give you the best chance of maximizing your results. Just like eating properly and exercising, doing it once will be of benefit, but that benefit is lost unless you are persistent and consistent. If the recommendations seem to be causing other issues or don’t match your personal convictions, talk to your practitioner about them and/or get a second opinion.
Proper Sleep
The proper quality and quantity of sleep are arguably the most important aspects of all health. If you aren’t getting enough restful restorative sleep, your hormones, mood, energy and more will be negatively affected which will massively impair your ability to heal. I have written an article on sleep tips in a previous issue of this magazine.
Regular Exercise
This can take many forms whether it be a formal exercise program or class, or small sustained daily activities, walking, swimming, weights. The body needs both rest and motion to heal properly. Too much of one or the other can be detrimental.
Adequate water intake
Our body needs adequate amounts of water to allow proper cellular function, nutrition transport, waste elimination, temperature regulation, digestion, and so much more. Try to source highly filtered, re-mineralized water in glass containers. A general guide is 1 litre of water for every 20-25 kg of body weight (activity levels, medications, disease conditions, etc… may alter this so if you are unsure, ask your practitioner).
Quality nutrition
Ideally, we would get all of our nutritional needs met from our food, however, for many this is not the case. Modernization has resulted in an abundance of food and food-like substances devoid of nutrition and loaded with harmful chemicals and components. Herbicides, antibiotics, and other poisons are all throughout our food supply and environment. Where possible try to source organic, local, vine-ripened, in season, grass rather than grain fed land animals, and wild caught fish. This approach is designed to provide a variety of micro and macronutrients at the same time as being more sustainable and environmentally friendly. In a previous issue we discussed recommended foods for health.
Supplementation for deficiencies
While sourcing our food as described above is desirable, sometimes it isn’t possible, or because we are already so unwell, we need to take more substantial steps to reduce our deficiencies. Common deficiencies are Vitamin D, Magnesium, Omega 3 fatty acids, imbalance in the gut flora, and general vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Stress relief
Do something for yourself that helps you to relieve stress. That might be meditation, prayer, exercise, a hobby, alone time, or something else. Find something that works for you and do it with persistent consistency.
