HOLIDAY SEASON STRESS & Healthy Chiropractic Lifestyle Choices

With the busy Holiday Season, it is important to your
health to take a few simple steps to reduce the stress and
strain of this active time. The added rush of holiday observances
with the ongoing worries so many are experiencing
with economic concerns, weather-generated challenges,
and international conflicts, can pose very real
challenges to people everywhere.
Resolve to make healthier choices as you move through your day: to slow down, breathe
deeply, recognize the need for more patience, get adequate rest, and plan ahead will all help
reduce the stress of overlapping demands and last-minute efforts. Make a special point for
time and space to enjoy and explore these special holiday opportunities to share in meaningful
ways with your friends, colleagues and family members.

STABILIZE TRANSPORT:
Carrying your holiday responsibilities with care—from packages
to people—is vitally important. Both everyday activities and special
holiday travel plans call for healthy choices.

• Lift items with forethought and size up your load;
bend at the knees rather than flexing forward and just bending
at the hips. Holding the object close to your body and
maintaining a slight arch in your lower back helps the strong
leg muscles do the work, also supports loads as you lift.

• Shifting your posture helps offset prolonged
standing. Postural fatigue from shopping, entertaining or
cooking for extended periods—reduce by alternately elevating
1 foot on a chair rung/foot rest, shifting muscle loading.

• Adjust your travel strategies. Placing a pillow or
folded towel behind the small of the back can help maintain
the arch and support the rest of the body properly, relieving
the discs and joints of the spine from unnecessary pressure.
In addition to fastening your seat belt, car trips should include
adjusting the headrest to align with your head, at least
up to ear level.

• Get adjusted. Chiropractic adjustments optimize your
peak potential and help you maintain momentum.

BALANCED CHOICES:
Additional weight in the abdominal region could put 10
pounds or more stress on the lower back, forcing the pelvis
and torso to shift and cause changes in spinal balance,
leading to spinal misalignments (known as subluxations)
and malfunction in body systems.

• Avoid repeated heavy eating during holidays feasts
and avoid extra desserts and snacks, to prevent adding extra
weight. Loading on extra food can stress the digestive
system; carrying extra weight adds strain on supporting
structures of the spine and nervous system.

• What you eat is as important as how much
you eat. More evidence is accumulating that indicates
how including more fresh fruits and vegetables, along with
limiting starches and using low-sodium, low-sugar recipes,
are essential aspects of healthy eating.

• Make a helpful move to work off what you eat.
Taking even a 15-20 minute stroll after a big holiday meal
can help ease post-feast discomfort and burn some calories.
Fitness research findings indicate you can burn up to 100
calories in a 30-minute walk!


A P u b l i c I n f o r m a t i o n S e r v i c e f r o m y o u r
D o c t o r o f C h i r o p r a c t i c
a n d t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l
C h i r o p r a c t o r s A s s o c i a t i o n