The human body is an amazingly complex system of bones, joints, muscles, and nerves, designed to work together to accomplish one thing: motion. Remember that motion is life. Everything about the human body is designed with motion in mind: nerve fibers stimulate the muscles to contract, muscles contract to move the bones, bones move around joints, and the nerve system controls it all.

As a matter of fact, research has shown that motion is so critical to our body's health that a lack of motion has a detrimental effect on everything from digestion to our emotional state, immune function, our ability to concentrate, how well we sleep and even to how long we live. If your lifestyle does not include enough motion, your body cannot function efficiently. First, you will not be as physically healthy and will suffer from a wide variety of physical ailments, ranging from headaches to high blood pressure. Second, you will not be as productive in your life because of reduced energy levels and the lack of ability to mentally focus. Third, because you have less energy, your activity level will tend to drop off even further over time, creating a downward spiral of reduced energy and less activity until you get to a point where even the demands of a sedentary job leave you physically exhausted at the end of the day.Read on to find out more how strength, posture, movement, and balance all play into living a life full of motion.   

• Posture
• Movement
• Balance
• Strength

It has been documented that thoughts and emotions have a powerful influence over our physical health. There was an interesting study conducted at UCLA in the early 1990s where 14 professional actors were recruited to study the effects of emotion on the immune system. During the study, the actors were told which mood state they would be experiencing.

They then read the appropriate scenario, which was about 100 words long, and were told to create and experience a realistic mood by developing the scene and verbally and behaviorally acting it out while seated. Actors were encouraged to use their own personal memories to intensify the experience. Once the actors were in a particular emotional state, the researchers drew blood to measure any physical changes that may be associated with particular emotional states. What they found surprised everyone. Simply by shifting from one emotional state to another, the actors could stimulate or suppress their immune function. Subsequent studies have measured all kinds of physical changes that result from emotional states, such as changes in hormone levels, brain chemistry, blood sugar levels, even the ability to heal properly. In fact, the mind-body connection is so strong that an entire field of science has emerged called psychoneuroimmunology.

More and more scientific studies are published on a daily basis proving the idea that thoughts and emotions have a powerful influence over our physical health. This is one of the reasons why people are much more likely to get sick during job changes, holidays and other stressful times; or why people who are depressed have a much higher risk of developing cancer. How can emotions affect our immunity or resistance to disease? Research shows that the brain can release hormones and other chemicals that affect white blood cells and other parts of the immune system. Though the chemicals also have other functions, they are a link between our thoughts and our ability to resist diseases.For example, when people react to stresses with fear, their brains send a "danger" message to the body. Hormones are released to raise blood pressure and prepare muscles for quick action, as if to fight or flee from danger. The stress hormones also depress the disease-resistance system, and over time, can damage the brain, heart and digestive tract.Thoughts can cause physical abnormalities such as ulcers, indigestion, nervousness and high blood pressure. Thoughts can also depress the immune system, which leads to a wide variety of diseases. Whether a person experiences poor health, and how soon, depends on that person's heredity, environment, diet, and behavior.

An Australian study in the late 1970s showed that when one spouse dies, the other experiences a weakened immune system. This helps explain why grieving spouses have more diseases and a higher death rate than others of similar age. Other studies have shown that heart patients who are depressed have more heart problems than happier heart patients; depression was a better predictor of problems than physical measurements were.

Cancer is more common in people who suffer a major emotional loss, repress anger and feel helpless. Cancer patients who express their emotions rather than denying them seem to recover more often. The link between emotion and cancer is so strong that some psychological tests are better predictors of cancer than physical exams are. This does not mean that everyone who has cancer or some other disease has simply thought it upon himself. There are many factors involved in disease; even the best attitude is not going to prevent ill effects from genetic malfunctions and some chemical and biological hazards. A new study shows physical proof how one of those aspects - a strong and happy marriage - can be a boon to your health. According to the study, physical wounds take much longer to heal in marriages marred by hostility and conflict than those in which couples build a more pleasurable home life.

As our thoughts and emotions have such a powerful influence over our physical health, we must take proactive steps to regain our health through healthy thinking, relaxation, and positive affirmations. Explore this section for more on how to calm your mind and improve your health.

In addition to the major pillars of wellness - alignment, exercise, nutrition, and healthy thinking - there are a number of other things that you can do to live a life of richness. These include minimizing the sugar in your diet, drinking more pure water, turning off the television, smoking cessation, attracting love and intimacy, and becoming an advanced citizen. Simply put, when you treat yourself well, treat others well, and eat well, wellness in your body, relationships, and mind will follow.

In this section, you will find information and ideas on how to incorporate these lifestyle tips into your daily routine in order to enrich your life.

The purpose of this area of our website is to provide you with a resource for finding additional information and products that will help you live a healthier life. We describe the types of products we recommend and when we have experience with a favorite recommended brand or company, we share that with you. For your convenience you can learn more about these products here and when possible, you can purchase them at our office.

Use this as your personal wellness product guide. If you have a favorite product that is not listed here, please let us know. We always do our best to stay current with the latest and greatest wellness products on the market. The products are organized by which aspect of your health they help to support. We recommend you consult with us or a specialist to determine which of the following products best fit your needs and support your wellness goals. In addition to our expertise and service, we keep these products in stock at our wellness centers for your convenience.

At Home

Restoring the natural curves of your spine helps to maintain proper nutrition to your discs, which improves posture and range of motion.

Depending on your age and the condition of your spine, your wellness doctor may recommend you use tools to help reduce spinal degeneration due to long-term spinal misalignment. Devices such as a Posture Pump, Cervical Rolls, Spinal Fulcrums, Spinal Traction and The Posture Right by Neck Orthotic can help reduce spinal decay and in many cases actual increase the health of your spine by helping to restore the natural curves of your spine. Restoring the natural curves of your spine helps to maintain proper nutrition to your discs improving your posture and range of motion. People regularly report that these types of tools help them to reduce pain and increase mobility.

Experts suggest that proper alignment of the spine helps to reduce the rate of spinal degeneration, which can have a variety of overall positive health benefits. In addition, we have all seen what people look like whose posture worsens with aging, and there is little that can be done to improve posture once decades of damage and neglect have set in. If you are concerned that you don't want to look all hunched over when you are older, now is the time to begin to care for your spine starting.

At Work

It is critical to evaluate the proper set up of your work environment because it is often the cause of most stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel in your wrist.

Because many people spend almost half of all of their waking hours sitting at a desk, it is important that your chair, desk and other equipment help your body maintain good posture and alignment. A healthy work station involves being aware of your seating, keyboard and mouse, computer monitor position and glare, telephone position, feet position, lighting and proper positioning of your work. It is critical to evaluate the proper set up of your work environment because it is often the cause of most repetitive stress injuries.

Things like improper chair position, cradling the phone between your ear and shoulder, or straining your neck to look at your computer monitor is not a big deal every once in a while, but when you do the same repetitive motions for several hours a day, several days a week, several weeks a month and so on, you will find that your body eventually has to give and in many cases will suffer pain, discomfort, poor posture and spinal disc damage. Unfortunately, most people don't correlate these problems to their day-to-day activity because they think it has to be caused by a specific traumatic event. That's just not the case.

Exercise

Home exercise equipment can be a huge benefit when it comes to a crowded schedule that leaves little room for fitness.

In today's busy world, finding time to exercise can be a real challenge. Home exercise equipment can be a huge benefit when it comes to a crowded schedule that leaves little room for fitness. Consider exercising while watching television or as a warm-up before leaving for work in the mornings. Without the hassle of going to the gym, adding exercise to your daily routine at home may make getting in shape a lot easier.

Here, you'll find useful information about exercise equipment, from buying advice to maintenance to what types of equipment are best for you.

Nutrition

Organic produce that is fresh and local reduces your risk of cancer and other diseases related to toxins used in the agricultural industry.

One easy change to make as you improve your eating habits is to buy organic food. It is important to purchase organic produce that is fresh and local, and meat that is free of antibiotics and hormones. Reducing the amount of pesticides and other chemicals in your diet reduces your risk of cancer and other diseases related to toxins used in the agricultural industry. In addition, the water used to produce organic food is cleaner, the soil is healthier, and the animals are usually raised more humanely.

In addition to how your food is produced, another important change is a balanced diet that includes a variety of vitamins, minerals, fiber and nutrients.

What You Wear

Continually wearing the wrong items, such as a heavy backpack or bag on one shoulder, can cause injury to your health.

You probably wouldn't connect getting ill with what you wear, but perhaps you should. When it comes to being healthy, you probably don't give your clothes or accessories a second thought. The reality is that what you wear or carry could play a crucial role in your health, even making you ill if you continually wear the wrong items, such as a heavy backpack or bag. Clothing fit is also an important consideration for health. Clothes or accessories that are too tight can constrict blood flow, reduce your range of motion and cause discomfort.

From your head to your toes, what you put on your body on a daily basis needs to be considered for total wellness.

Wellness is more than simply being healthy. It is about attaining physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. Many of the strategies offered in this section will be directed toward helping you gain the physical capacity, strength, and resilience in order to achieve complete wellness.

The goal here is to help you gain insight and meaning into the circumstances of your life and then to help you put your life to work for the betterment of the human condition. That betterment may be as a mother who better prepares her children for the world they will live in as adults. It may be for the businessman who sees the greater good and the greater harm that stem from his immediate decisions and then chooses to do what is best for the long haul of all involved. It may be for the politician or community leader who understands the awesome capacity his or her respective group, organization, community, or culture has provided and then to act in the best interest of the greater good for humankind.

• Social
• Physical
• Spiritual
• Mental