May is better sleep month! In celebration(?) of better sleep month here are some tips on how to get a better night's sleep.
1-Keep to a regular schedule.
Your body gets used to when you go to bed and when you get up, and this helps you to feel more rested. When you disrupt this cycle it is difficult to fall asleep and/or wake up. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day to avoid this.
2-Put yourself at ease before bed.
Relaxing activities before bed prepare your body for sleep. Try reading, taking a bath, even meditation before going to bed. Incorporate whatever you do to relax into your bedtime ritual.
3-Get your daily exercise.
We all know the benefits of a daily exercise routine. Did you know that it can also help you to sleep better? Try to get at least 20-30 minutes a day, at least 5-6 hours before bedtime. Exercise too close to bedtime can actually interfere with the sleep cycle.
4-Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol.
Obviously, caffeine is a stimulant and keeps you awake, interfering with the sleep cycle. If you are having serious problems sleeping, I recommend avoiding all caffeine. If you do consume caffeine, try to keep it in the morning, not before bedtime. Remember that caffeine is found not only in coffee, but in chocolate, soft drinks, teas, diet pills, and some pain killers. Nicotine should be avoided because it results in nicotine withdrawal, leading to waking early. Alcohol robs you of the deep sleep cycle, which is the most beneficial cycle of sleep.
5-If you can't sleep, get up!
Don't just lie there. Get up and do something else which is relaxing. Reading, watching TV, listening to music for a short period of time will help to relax you and get you to fall asleep. Anxiety about not being able to fall asleep can lead to tension which makes it harder and harder to fall asleep.
6-Don't wake up to darkness.
Bright morning light helps to reset the body's internal biological clock. If you cannot wake up to natural sunlight, wake up to bright artificial light to help with this (keep in mind that natural sunlight is better).
7-Control your environment.
Keep your room a comfortable temperature. Extreme temperatures can cause you to wake too soon, or delay falling asleep. Control background noise. Lots of background noise can interfere with falling asleep. If you cannot control background noise, find a source of white noise , such as a fan or ocean waves CD that can cover it (however, silence is best). Sleep in the dark. Sleeping in a lit room can cause delay in falling asleep and rising too early.
If you do not necessarily have any sleeping problems, try these for an even more satisfying sleep experience. If you do have sleep problems, try these and see if they resolve it. If these suggestions do not help, make an appointment to see your doctor to discuss your issue. You may have a problem if you have trouble falling asleep night after night or if you always feel tired. There are many things that may be interfering with your sleep, and diagnosing the problem is sometimes the only was to resolve it.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Learning to live headache free.
Millions of people live everyday with headaches. Some of these are mild and annoying, and some are absolutely debilitating. While most are not life-threatening, they are a huge pain. The good news is that there are some things you can do to help prevent and treat your headache. It all begins with understanding what headaches are.
95% of headaches are primary headaches, meaning that they are just that, a headache. The other 5% can be warning signs of illness or serious physical problems (secondary headache). These typically strike suddenly and are accompanied by confusion, slurred speech, and other unusual symptoms. If this is the case it is essential to seek emergency medical care immediately.
Primary headaches can be divided into three basic categories; tension type headaches, migraines and cervicogenic headaches. Of these, tension headaches are the most common. These are caused by general stress, physical stress, lack of sleep, and psychiatric factors. They are usually mild to severe and generalized all over the head. Migraines, on the other hand, are severe, throbbing and often localized to one side. They can last from minutes to several days, and are often accompanied by nausea and visual changes called auras. Many things have been identified as triggers for migraines, and it is important to take steps to identify and avoid these if you experience migraines. Cervicogenic headaches begin in the neck and radiate into the head. These tend to be referred pain from structures such as muscles and ligaments in the neck. They are usually isolated to one side.
Learning to avoid headaches is a key step in the treatment process. There are several things you can do. Keep a headache diary including when it began and what you were doing prior to its onset. This helps to identify triggers that can subsequently be avoided. Take breaks from the computer every thirty minutes and do stretches of your back and shoulders. Drink plenty of water and avoid dehydration, a major cause of headaches. Take short walks every few hours.
Over 4 billion dollars is spent every year on over the counter medication for headaches. Many of these have been shown to be ineffective, and some may in fact actually cause headaches! Caution must be exercised when considering which medication to choose, because of possible side effects and interactions with other drugs and supplements you may be taking.
A better choice is chiropractic care. Recent research has shown the effectiveness of chiropractic care in treatment of headaches. At Main Street Chiropractic Center we work hard to identify the type of headache you are experiencing and the best treatment for it. If we believe chiropractic is not the best treatment we will refer you to the health care professional best equipped to handle it. We are confident that we will be able to find the cause of your headaches, not just cover up the symptoms. Break the headache pill cycle by using chiropractic - the drug-free choice!
95% of headaches are primary headaches, meaning that they are just that, a headache. The other 5% can be warning signs of illness or serious physical problems (secondary headache). These typically strike suddenly and are accompanied by confusion, slurred speech, and other unusual symptoms. If this is the case it is essential to seek emergency medical care immediately.
Primary headaches can be divided into three basic categories; tension type headaches, migraines and cervicogenic headaches. Of these, tension headaches are the most common. These are caused by general stress, physical stress, lack of sleep, and psychiatric factors. They are usually mild to severe and generalized all over the head. Migraines, on the other hand, are severe, throbbing and often localized to one side. They can last from minutes to several days, and are often accompanied by nausea and visual changes called auras. Many things have been identified as triggers for migraines, and it is important to take steps to identify and avoid these if you experience migraines. Cervicogenic headaches begin in the neck and radiate into the head. These tend to be referred pain from structures such as muscles and ligaments in the neck. They are usually isolated to one side.
Learning to avoid headaches is a key step in the treatment process. There are several things you can do. Keep a headache diary including when it began and what you were doing prior to its onset. This helps to identify triggers that can subsequently be avoided. Take breaks from the computer every thirty minutes and do stretches of your back and shoulders. Drink plenty of water and avoid dehydration, a major cause of headaches. Take short walks every few hours.
Over 4 billion dollars is spent every year on over the counter medication for headaches. Many of these have been shown to be ineffective, and some may in fact actually cause headaches! Caution must be exercised when considering which medication to choose, because of possible side effects and interactions with other drugs and supplements you may be taking.
A better choice is chiropractic care. Recent research has shown the effectiveness of chiropractic care in treatment of headaches. At Main Street Chiropractic Center we work hard to identify the type of headache you are experiencing and the best treatment for it. If we believe chiropractic is not the best treatment we will refer you to the health care professional best equipped to handle it. We are confident that we will be able to find the cause of your headaches, not just cover up the symptoms. Break the headache pill cycle by using chiropractic - the drug-free choice!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Why low back pain responds so well to chiropractic care...
Have you ever wondered why it is that so many people recommend chiropractic care for low back pain? You know that chiropractors adjust your spine. Automatically you associate chiropractic with back pain, but why? What is it that is causing the pain and what is the chiropractic adjustment doing to relieve that pain?
There are many, many different conditions that can lead to low back pain. Mechanical factors are the most common. Included in this category would be:
Facet syndrome, where the joints at the back of the spine between the bones are jammed together because of trauma or chronic mechanical stress.
Disc problems, including bulges, herniations and degeneration, where direct pressure can be placed on the nerves that exit the spinal cord, causing pain going into your legs (sciatica).
Subluxation, where poor motion and malposition of the joints of the spine cause nerve irritation and facilitation leading to low back pain.
Bone spurs caused by spinal decay can cause direct and indirect nerve irritation leading to low back pain.
Spinal stenosis can result from the protective ligaments inside the spinal canal becoming stretched and then kinked, putting direct pressure on spinal nerves or even the spinal cord.
Some of the causes of low back pain that are organic and may or may not have a mechanical factor include:
Kidney problems, which often cause pain in the flanks and low back area.
Pregnancy, which obviously leads to mechanical changes of the spine.
Intestinal problems, which sometimes first show up as pain in the lower back.
Cancer (prostate, colon, etc.) sometimes has a first symptom of low back pain that mimics mechanical causes.
Chiropractic adjustments work so well for the treatment of low back pain because they are designed to treat the specific area of malfunction. When the proper function and structure are restored to the specific joints of the spinal column nerve irritation and facilitation is eliminated and low back pain ceases. This is also why so many conditions other than back pain respond to chiropractic care. The spinal cord is the conduit for communication between the nerves of the body and the brain, and vice versa. When interference occurs with this communication, dis-ease results. It is important to remember that there are many causes of diseases recognized today, and that chiropractic does not profess to treat many of these. What chiropractic aims to do is provide the body with the best possible conditions for it to heal itself.
The best way to determine what it is that is causing your low back pain is to schedule an appointment with your doctor of chiropractic. Your D.C. will perform a thorough evaluation of not only the mechanical factors that may be causing your low back pain, but will also perform tests to rule out organic causes. This will insure that your condition will be helped by chiropractic care. Many times a combination of mechanical and organic causes may be present. In this case co-care with the appropriate medical professional will be recommended.
At Main Street Chiropractic Center we absolutely recommend seeing your doctor of chiropractic for your low back pain. This is the most conservative route of care, and it only makes sense to try the most conservative route with the best results before trying more aggressive and invasive options such as pain killing drugs or surgery.
There are many, many different conditions that can lead to low back pain. Mechanical factors are the most common. Included in this category would be:
Facet syndrome, where the joints at the back of the spine between the bones are jammed together because of trauma or chronic mechanical stress.
Disc problems, including bulges, herniations and degeneration, where direct pressure can be placed on the nerves that exit the spinal cord, causing pain going into your legs (sciatica).
Subluxation, where poor motion and malposition of the joints of the spine cause nerve irritation and facilitation leading to low back pain.
Bone spurs caused by spinal decay can cause direct and indirect nerve irritation leading to low back pain.
Spinal stenosis can result from the protective ligaments inside the spinal canal becoming stretched and then kinked, putting direct pressure on spinal nerves or even the spinal cord.
Some of the causes of low back pain that are organic and may or may not have a mechanical factor include:
Kidney problems, which often cause pain in the flanks and low back area.
Pregnancy, which obviously leads to mechanical changes of the spine.
Intestinal problems, which sometimes first show up as pain in the lower back.
Cancer (prostate, colon, etc.) sometimes has a first symptom of low back pain that mimics mechanical causes.
Chiropractic adjustments work so well for the treatment of low back pain because they are designed to treat the specific area of malfunction. When the proper function and structure are restored to the specific joints of the spinal column nerve irritation and facilitation is eliminated and low back pain ceases. This is also why so many conditions other than back pain respond to chiropractic care. The spinal cord is the conduit for communication between the nerves of the body and the brain, and vice versa. When interference occurs with this communication, dis-ease results. It is important to remember that there are many causes of diseases recognized today, and that chiropractic does not profess to treat many of these. What chiropractic aims to do is provide the body with the best possible conditions for it to heal itself.
The best way to determine what it is that is causing your low back pain is to schedule an appointment with your doctor of chiropractic. Your D.C. will perform a thorough evaluation of not only the mechanical factors that may be causing your low back pain, but will also perform tests to rule out organic causes. This will insure that your condition will be helped by chiropractic care. Many times a combination of mechanical and organic causes may be present. In this case co-care with the appropriate medical professional will be recommended.
At Main Street Chiropractic Center we absolutely recommend seeing your doctor of chiropractic for your low back pain. This is the most conservative route of care, and it only makes sense to try the most conservative route with the best results before trying more aggressive and invasive options such as pain killing drugs or surgery.
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