We can’t go outside as much in the wintertime and be active like we can in the summertime. When we’re sedentary, we’re not moving as much. We are not built to be sedentary in nature. So, when we can’t get outside and be active, it is going to increase stress and tension within the spine through postural misalignments.
Here are four ways to lower your stress levels and feel better during the cold winter months:
1. Maintain Proper Posture
When we feel tension and pain in the head, the neck, or the upper back, that’s typically coming from structural misalignment. Looking at your phone all day with your chin in your chest is going to create that tech neck. That’s where your head shifts forward, and your neck goes straight. This creates tension in the muscles because they’re now under stress. It increases stress on the disc and is going to lead to pressure on the nerve. These postural stresses increase stress and tension on the joint, the tissue, the spine, the nerve, which leads to pain, dysfunction, and symptomatology within the spine.
If you’re not moving, you get weak and lazy. That allows your head to shift forward, your shoulders to round, and your core to get weak and lazy. Taking a joint through its intended range of motion is going to stimulate the disc, the joint, and the tissue. Do some spinal mobility or joint mobility. Work on all the muscles that control posture.
So, throughout the day and the week, we should be focusing on keeping joints moving so they keep their range of motion. We should be doing exercises to prevent pain by engaging the muscles that sit deep in the neck that keep your head back and engaging the core which piques stability in low back and the pelvis. If the joint is moving well, you’ve got balanced muscle strength. That’s going to reduce the postural stress we’re putting on our body, which in turn is going to allow us to feel and function better.
2. Get Direct Sunlight
Dr. Huberman, a professor in ophthalmology says if you can get 20 minutes of sunlight directly into the eyes a day, it has awesome effects on our physiology, how we feel, how we function, how we sleep. Even though it’s cold, the sun still shines, and we should all find the time to be out exercising a minimum of three to five times a week, even if it’s light exercise. Take 20 minutes, get outside, go for a walk, look at the sun, obviously not directly. You will feel better than you would just being inside, not moving, not getting that natural sunlight.
3. Exercise
Motion is lotion, right? Research is all there for everyone to find and read. When you exercise a minimum of 20 minutes, it has a really positive effect physiologically on the body. It releases endorphins, which essentially makes us feel good and happy.
We should all be moving for obviously all the health benefits, cardiovascular benefits that come with it, but also to limit our physical and physiological stress. Pick an exercise that you’d like to do if you physically can’t get outside. So, if you’ve got a treadmill, if you’ve got a bike, a Peloton, an elliptical, just try and move for 20 minutes a day and you’re going to feel and function a lot better.
When it comes to specific exercises to keep our bodies essentially bulletproof so we can function outside, snowing, skiing, etc., lean into those exercises that should be focused on the joint that we’re going to be using, hips, low back, knees, feet and ankles, shoulders, through their intended range of motion. Take it through the planes of motion that stimulate the joint, keeping it healthy.
A prerequisite for any joint in the body is full range of motion. Once we lose range of motion, that really increases stress and tension on the joint, which can break us down. Then focus on the muscles that are going to create stability in that joint. So, your lower back, we want the diaphragm to engage, we want the core to engage, we want the glutes, the hamstrings, to be active because then when we’re moving, the muscle groups that should be creating stability through movement are engaging.
Go ahead and jump on our YouTube channel, Advanced Health Chiropractic South Loop to find specific exercises for the spine and the core. There’s a ton of videos and exercises that you can watch and listen to and follow through at home.
4. Get Chiropractic Care
Chiropractors focus on stress. We know stress can manifest as several forms, stressful work environments, poor dietary habits, or physical stress. So, a chiropractor, when your spine is getting adjusted, is going to improve the range of motion within the joint. That’s going to create less stress in the joint, less tension. That’s going to also feel good and function good.
Also, there’s loads of good research coming out when your spine’s getting adjusted, it activates activity in your brain, and cells form together, which has a direct response on stress. Also, it’s just typically from cortisol levels. So, if we’re in a stressed state, cortisol is released that blocks insulin from being absorbed. This then gets into the bloodstream, which raises our insulin. Then that has an effect on hormone proliferation and just essentially how the body functions physiologically.
So, by getting your spine adjusted it’s been proven to reduce stress physiologically within the body. Our patients typically come in for a little pain. For everyone, we do a deep history. They’re also having what we call conditions. Remember 15% of your nerves have the ability to send a pain signal, but 85% of your nervous system can’t do that. So, it’s going to show up as a condition. Our corporate athletes who practice downtown in Chicago are going to have poor sleep patterns, low libido, fatigue, irritability, mood swings, inability to gain or lose weight. That’s because the body is under stress.
When you’re getting your spine adjusted and relieving the stress in the nervous system, that’s going to allow you to function better physiologically at an optimal rate, which is then going to allow us to sleep, and have more energy. All those things that you wouldn’t think chiropractors would help with.
You should speak to anyone who’s been under chiropractic care for an extended period of time, and they’ll tell you exactly that. It helps you so much more than just relieving pain by reducing stress within the nervous system, which essentially controls everything the body does.
