What is Health?

I’d like to teach a bit on health and what it truly means. Many people assume they are in excellent health but when digging deeper, they believe they are healthy because: 1. they do not have an illness or disease or 2. they rarely get sick. But the WHO specifically says that health is "not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Just because you aren't sick, doesn't mean you are healthy. 

During this time, the media and everyone on social media is preaching how NOT to get sick. What outward precautions to take. But we believe that we need to teach how to stay healthy! From the inside out.

I’d like you to take a look inside and ask: how is your physical health? Are you eating unhealthy snacks/junk food all day? Are you sitting on the couch binging shows/movies? Are you going for walks outside? Are you exercising? Are you eating plenty vegetable/fruits? Are you limiting your processed sugar intake? What are you doing to maintain, or better yet improve, your physical well-being?

How about your mental health? Are you feeling anxious/fearful? Are you looking forward to the future? Do you believe in the power of your body to fight illness? Are you meditating, journaling, or using another avenue to better your mental health? Are you seeing a therapist or other practitioner that assists you in have a better mental well-being?

What about your social well-being? I know that this one is struggling for a lot of people. And it's a huge factor in your health! Social interaction helps stimulate the Vagus nerve. Never heard of that? Well, it's become a hot topic among a lot of health professions. It plays a major role in your parasympathetic nervous system which helps to regulate many systems in your body. “Face-to-face social connectedness fortifies the "tend-and-befriend" parasympathetic response and engages your vagus nerve. This improves vagal tone and counteracts stress responses associated with "fight-or-flight" mechanisms. Social connectedness has also been clinically proven to improve heart rate variability (HRV), which is the measurement of variations within beat-to-beat intervals and indicates a healthy heart (From psychologytoday.com).” Are you having limited to no social interaction during this time or are you searching for ways to still have social interaction?

This period of time is allowing people the opportunity to reassess what is needed in their lives and what is not as important as what they once thought. Health may have once been far down the totem pole for many but is quickly rising in the ranks to being a top priority. If you’re wondering how you can make health a priority and how you can take charge of your health, please reach out. There are many ways to improve your health and many practitioners that can help but ultimately the responsibility it yours.

There’s a statement in chiropractic philosophy of Above-Down, Inside-Out (ADIO). What this means is that the brain (Above) is the control center of the body. The control comes from the brain (Above) and goes to the body (Down). As it goes down it begins “Inside” and travels “Out.” As it travels out, you not only are affecting yourself but are able to help others. 

How does ADIO philosophy relate to the principle of health? Health doesn’t come from an outside source. Health is already programmed inside all of us. Our bodies can and will fight off illnesses. You are designed to do so and far better than any outside source has the ability to fight off illnesses. The responsibility for you to achieve health doesn’t come from an outside source. Can outside sources help? Absolutely. Some examples in each category can be as follows:

Physical Well-being:

• Chiropractic: allows your nervous system to function without interference thus allowing for improved function of the body.

• Personal Trainers: provides an exercise program that best suites your needs

• Dietician/Nutritionist: assists in coming up with a well balanced food lifestyle that best suites your life.

There are many other examples of outside sources that can help elevate your physical well-being but it is still your responsibility. The Chiropractor can help but YOU must go to their office. The personal trainer may assist you in an exercise program but YOU are the one that does the exercise. A dietician/nutritionist may provide you a food lifestyle but YOU have to buy the food and choose to follow the plan.

Mental Well-being:

• Therapist: provides an avenue to properly process experiences of your life.

• Alternative healers: provide many different ways to assist in your mental well-being. 

• Friends: provide a safe place for you to vent and discuss what’s going on in your life.

• If you’re religious-God: prayer provides a way for you to discuss your needs with God and “let go and let God.”

You may have other outside sources that assist you in elevating your mental well-being but it is up to YOU to use them if you need. It is your responsibility to feel/deal/heal from mental struggles or hinderances in the present or past. 

Social Well-being:

• Friends: there is no better “face-to-face social connectedness” than interacting with a close friend.

• Mindset groups: provides an avenue to discuss goals and interact with people that want to achieve elevated levels of success and help you to achieve your goals.

• Sport leagues: for many sports are an avenue to not only interact with others socially but also provides an opportunity to improve their mental and physical well-being at the same time. 

• Hobby Groups: an avenue for people to interact with like minded individuals doing something they love.

Social well-being is one category that relies on others more than the other two. However, it is still YOUR responsibility to reach out and interact with others. You may be an introvert (like Dr. Randy) and think you do not need to have any interaction. However the interaction is needed. It may not look like an extroverts interaction, e.g. big parties or being around a lot of people. It may be one on one interaction or a large group for a short duration of time. But the more we realize how important our social well-being is to our overall health, the more we will seek opportunities to elevated our social well-being.

We at Elevated Life Family Chiropractic know how important it is to ELEVATE your health. We have been reminded, during this time, how important it is for us to educate and provide a safe place for people to not only learn but also to experience true health. We do our best at providing an opportunity for you to elevate your physical well-being through chiropractic adjustments.  While in our office we hope you feel comfortable enough to share your needs, not only physically but also mentally and socially. We opened Elevated Life Family Chiropractic in Shelley, ID because we want to be an asset to this community and provide a place for people to feel connected to others enough to help each other in their paths to elevating their health. 

We love hearing from you! Find us on social media: @ElevatedLifeFC, comment below or shoot us an email: info@elevatedlifefc.com