Happy new year, wishing you and your loved ones peace and health. After living through 2020, our perspectives and priorities on what is important have changed. I am here to help you achieve your health goals, maintain your active lifestyles, and perform at your best on and off the hill. As a Doctor of Chiropractic, I promote natural ways to boost immunity. While staying physically fit has an important role in health, we cannot neglect other important factors to running at your most optimal, best self in 2021: supplementation, stress management, and maintenance care such as Chiropractic, Acupuncture and Massage
Nutrition is an important part of health and building a strong immunity, but I’d like to focus on a specific aspect, vitamin D intake. Vitamin D is naturally produced in our body from direct sunlight. This becomes an issue during the winter months, as we cover our bodies entirely by clothing and have less daytime hours. Vitamin D is essential in many different systems in our body and acts like a hormone as it is actively in our blood stream and binds to numerous receptors 1, 2. This important vitamin helps with keeping bones strong by the absorption of calcium, plays a strong role in regulating auto-immune diseases, reduces inflammatory markers, and is found on immune cells 1, 2, 3. When vitamin D is deficient, it is associated with worsened autoimmunity, increased susceptibility to infections, weakened bones, depression, impaired wound healing and more 2, 3. Foods such as fatty fish (i.e. mackerel, salmon) and fortified foods (i.e. dairy milk, instant oatmeal) are where we get a dietary source of vitamin D 3, 4. During the winter, especially in colder regions, food alone may not be sufficient to keep optimal levels of this vitamin 1, 2. It is estimated that nearly 1 billion people worldwide are deficient in Vitamin D 2. Supplementations of roughly 2500-5000 IU daily is generally recommended.
Unmanaged stress disrupts the entire body. Stress can cause issues such as raised blood pressure, aches in muscles and joints, worsen skin conditions, disrupt the gut, headaches, lowering your immune function and so much more. It can also worsen your ability to function throughout the day 5. The main system that is affected by stress is the autonomic system, which is made of the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digestion).Treatments such as acupuncture, massage and chiropractic can help your body function better and remove some of the interference that stress puts on the body. These treatments can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, release endorphins, and alleviate pains and aches 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Having a balance of both of these is incredibly important for us to function at our healthiest, which these treatments can bring. While regulation and balancing of the autonomic system is important, these practitioners’ have treatments that can restore your body from all kinds of pain and aches, improve your diet and lifestyle, all without the use of prescriptions or surgery.
Use this link to order from over 100 brands!
http://www.wholescripts.com/register/docjoe
And this link to order vitamin D!
https://wholescripts.com/D3-2000-240-sg
Sources Cited
Vitamin D fact sheet. (2020-10-09). NIH. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/
Lips P. Vitamin D physiology. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2006 Sep;92(1):4-8. doi: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2006.02.016. Epub 2006 Feb 28. PMID: 16563471.
Aranow C. Vitamin D and the immune system. J Investig Med. 2011;59(6):881-886. doi:10.2310/JIM.0b013e31821b8755
Childs, C. E., Calder, P. C., & Miles, E. A. (2019). Diet and Immune Function. Nutrients, 11(8), 1933. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081933
Kenney, M. J., & Ganta, C. K. (2014). Autonomic nervous system and immune system interactions. Comprehensive Physiology, 4(3), 1177–1200. https://doi.org/10.1002/cphy.c130051
Massage-like stroking boosts the immune system in mice 2015EnglishB. Major, L. Rattazzi, S. Brod, I. Pilipović, G. Leposavić, F. D’AcquistoScientific Reports
Spinal Manipulation: What you need to know. (2019, July). NCCIH. NIH.
Teodorczyk-Injeyan JA, Injeyan HS, McGregor M, Harris GM, Ruegg R. Enhancement of in vitro interleukin-2 production in normal subjects following a single spinal manipulative treatment. Chiropr Osteopat. 2008;16:5. Published 2008 May 28. doi:10.1186/1746-1340-16-5
Colombi, Andrea, and Marco Testa. “The Effects Induced by Spinal Manipulative Therapy on the Immune and Endocrine Systems.” Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) vol. 55,8 448. 7 Aug. 2019, doi:10.3390/medicina55080448
Li, Q. Q., Shi, G. X., Xu, Q., Wang, J., Liu, C. Z., & Wang, L. P. (2013). Acupuncture effect and central autonomic regulation. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2013, 267959. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/267959