I am well aware that I sound like everyone’s Grandma when I say, “Stop slouching, posture is important!”. But the thing is, Grandma was on to something! The more we learn about the human body, how it interacts with the world around us and how it works to keep us alive, the more integral posture becomes.

Why is it bad to slouch?
When our head drops forward and our shoulders round down and forward, this sends a feedback signal to our brain, specifically an area called the red nucleus. The red nucleus is always on the lookout for signs that you are in danger, and this slumped posture is a big red flag for it. When the red nucleus thinks you are in trouble, it rallies its friends (other nuclei that are in the mesencephalon) and makes you hypervigilant. These friends start a cascade of defence mechanisms within your body, releasing cortisol (a stress hormone), tightening muscles, increasing your sensitivity to light and sound, all so you can be aware of any impending danger and be ready to run or fight at a moments notice. Yes, your poor posture just switched on your ‘fight or flight’ response and made you stressed!

How does your poor posture make you irritable and tired?
When your fight or flight response is turned on, it makes you hypervigilant. Your brain is looking for any signal that you are about to be attacked, and your body is not worried about any basic functions like digesting food properly or keeping up your immune system, because there will be time for that once the danger is passed! It is hard to sleep, because your brain will wake you at the slightest sounds. You are sensitive to light and this can lead to headaches. So you are tired, overwhelmed and getting headaches, of course you are going to be cranky and irritable! The slouching posture can also decrease the range of movement of your ribcage while you breathe. This can mean that you take shallower breaths, which can affect the oxygenation levels in your body, making it harder for your cells to work efficiently and making you even more tired.

Why does my back hurt?
Part of the stress response we outlined above is muscles tightening. The muscles across your shoulders and up the back of your neck get very tight as part of this, and your low back can also get tight as your body has to compensate and redistribute the weight to keep you upright. A slouched posture is not a mechanically sound position for your body. It disengages some larger muscles (like lower trapezius and deep neck flexors) and puts their work onto muscles not designed to take such a big load (like smaller spinal extensor muscles, superficial neck flexors and suboccipitals). This can leave you stiff, sore and more prone to injury.

What is good posture?
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as ‘perfect posture’. There are definitely some positions to avoid, like the slumped forward posture we have talked about, but the key to good posture is… *drum roll please*…. Movement! Our bodies were not designed to sit in one position all day. Our muscles and brains thrive on movement and the feedback it provides. Taking regular breaks to move and stretch every 15-20 minutes can decrease back pain and increase your productivity. Following good ergonomic advice with your workstation set up is also a good idea, and if you are lucky enough to have a sit stand desk, varying the height so you can go between sitting and standing throughout the day. It would take far too long to write out all the ways to keep moving, so if you would like more information, have a look at our Facebook live videos this month at #SundayLiveAt8

So why is posture important? Because it can affect every system in our body, and make us tired, moody and sore if we aren’t getting it right. Make sure you check out our live videos this month, and if you have any questions please message us or talk to us during your appointment.

To learn more about the stress response, have a look at Sympathetic September (Sept 2018 in the blog archives)

While sometimes it may be tempting to do this when someone mentions gratitude, the benefits are greater than you think!

How being thankful can make your brain happier
It can seem obvious, being thankful for what you have. But it can be easy to fall into the trap of ‘I’ll be happy when…’, waiting for the stars to align and make ‘everything perfect’. In reality this very rarely happens, and we can make ourselves pretty miserable waiting for it.
Comparison is the thief of joy. If you are always looking at what others have or have achieved, it can be very hard to celebrate your own wins or be grateful for the good things in your life. The grass is not really greener on the other side!

How your brain will thank you
Being grateful can make massive changes to your life. It can help you express more positive emotions, feel more alive, sleep better, express more compassion and kindness, and even have stronger immune systems. It does this by affecting how your brain is functioning- when you express gratitude it affects your hypothalamus (where your stress response is triggered), and your ventral tegmental area (the part of your brain responsible for your reward mechanism that can produce feelings of pleasure). People who have practiced gratitude for as little as 3 months have huge changes in their brain on functional MRI in these areas and others, most to do with pleasure, positive emotion and lowered stress response.

First steps
Sometimes it can be easier to recognise what others do for you, before you can see what positives you already have. So, make a start by thinking about the people in your life that help you or do nice things for you. If you are really struggling with this, try to flip around any negatives you notice about people. Rather than picking on what they have missed or could have done better, say thank you for your effort and thanks for making my life a bit easier.
There have been studies that have shown that acting happy can actually make you happy. Smiling has the same effect on your brain whether you want to smile or not. So, you can try a little bit of ‘fake it before you make it’ to help you start.

How to be grateful
There are so many strategies that you can implement to help you show gratitude. Keep it simple and find what works for you. This shouldn’t be a hard or laborious task, so if you’re finding it difficult, start small and make it easier on yourself.

1. Write it out. Make a small list of 3-5 things you are grateful for each day. Pick a time that works for you, first thing in the morning or just before bed, and write down what you are thankful to have in your life. Try to change it up a bit though, writing the same things everyday doesn’t fire your brain in the same way as if you are always thinking of new things, or putting a different spin on what you are grateful for. You could also try writing letters to those who you are thankful for. It doesn’t matter if you don’t send them (although that could be a nice thing to do!), even just writing the letters can give your brain a positive boost.
2. Gifts. These don’t need to be large or extravagant, just a token of your appreciation of what others do for you. Gift giving is an extremely positive event in your brain, and it’s always nice to receive something unexpected too! And it doesn’t need to be a physical gift either. Giving your time to someone, whether it is to help them with a task, or just be with them and make a connection, can be a very powerful way to show how thankful you are to have them in your life.
3. Saying thank you! Actually sincerely saying thank you to those around you. The trick here is to be genuine. It doesn’t need to be a big extravagant show, just a simple ‘Thanks for doing this, it really helps me’. This one has an added benefit for the person receiving the thankyou too. Workers who are regularly thanked for doing their jobs well are up to 50% more productive than those who are not.

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Gratitude is more than just being optimistic or looking on the bright side. It is looking at what you have worked hard for, what you have achieved, how much you have in your life. Even if you first think there is nothing, when you start to look a little deeper there is usually much more than you expect. It is easy to get caught up in the negatives, what you don’t have and what you can’t do, that it can be tricky to appreciate what you can do. Be thankful for what is in your life right now, even if it is a bit challenging, and look forward to everything coming your way in the future. Try it out, if nothing else your brain will thank you for it!

At the end of May it is spinal health week. A week to bring attention to the importance of spinal health care, especially preventative or wellness care, and the role chiropractors play in this.

Why spinal health care matters
Musculoskeletal conditions (like low back pain and neck pain) and headaches and migraine are among the top 5 most debilitating conditions worldwide, both in terms of loss of quality of life and financial impact. Back pain and headaches account for a massive amount of time taken off work, causing lower productivity and costing businesses millions of dollars each year. As well as the loss of quality of life- that is, not being able to do the activities or tasks you want to do because your pain is limiting you. Imagine not being able to work, exercise or play with your children because of the amount of pain you are experiencing, every day. And once you have had one episode of back or neck pain, even if it resolves, your chance of it recurring within a year is very high.

But all is not hopeless. There are so many gentle, non-invasive ways to help back pain that can relieve acute symptoms, prevent recurrence and maybe even prevent it occurring in the first place. Spinal health care could help.

Acute, chronic, preventative?
Most people who see a chiropractor first come in with an injury or pain of some kind. Sometimes it is a sudden, very painful incident, other times it has been building for months and not getting any better. But what about getting treated before there is a problem?
I know, weird concept right? Except that dentists have been talking to us about preventative dental care for decades. Much better to brush your teeth and floss than end up needing fillings. The same can be said for musculoskeletal conditions. A bit of preventative conditioning, movement and postural advice could prevent a whole lot of pain further down the track.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean you should visit the chiropractor, it could be a good place to start to get advice about the health of your spine and where you could make improvements.

What do chiropractors do?
Chiropractors are excellent at assessing the function of your body and nervous system. We are trained to look for ineffective postural patterns, compensations for weaknesses and assess the body holistically- that is, where you feel ‘pain’ may not be the cause of the issue. We also focus on your physical, chemical and emotional health- are you eating, moving and thinking in a way that benefits your body?

Be ready for your daily marathon
No, not an actual marathon every day. But every day, we have an enormous expectation on our body. It needs to function well, allow us to think clearly and have enough stamina to get us through the day. To do this, we need to make sure that we have done our preparation and training. Have we given our body the correct fuel it needs through our food? Have we done the mental preparations to be able to get through our day when it gets tough? Have we done the training so our body can easily do what we expect it to do without injury or strain? Do you have a good sleep routine? All these, and more, are areas of your wellbeing that need to be consistently looked after to make sure you are ready for anything life throws at you.

Spinal Health Care
Much like brushing your teeth, spinal health care is best done consistently. There are many different aspects, but here are some of the basics:
Physical

• Having a simple morning stretch routine
• Doing exercises that mimic movements you do regularly to strengthen the muscles
• Being conscious of appropriate postures throughout the day

Chemical

• Eating quality wholefoods that nourish your body
• Avoiding excessive sugars and caffeine
• Restricting the amount of preservatives, colours and flavours (i.e the ‘numbers’) in your food

Emotional

• Lessen stress to take strain off your body (Have a look at our Sympathetic September 2018 blog post for more tips on this)
• Practicing gratitude
• Mentally preparing for your day

Doing these, and the many more things out there, not only help you be ready for everyday life, but to bring life and vitality into your every day.
For more help getting ready for life, have a look here: https://chiropractors.asn.au/straighten-up-app
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We are all getting older, there is no getting around this fact. We would all like to age gracefully and be able to enjoy our retirement years, so here are a few ways to help you get there in style, no matter what age you are.

Neuroplasticity

So there is one key concept when it comes to ageing. Neuroplasticity. The ability of your brain to learn and retain new information and skills. ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ is an outdated concept. Your brain is constantly learning and changing to adapt to the environment around you, no matter your age. But to make room for all this new learning and adapting, your brain needs to reduce a few things too. It is like Marie Kondo, always asking ‘Have I used this in the last few years?’ and decluttering what is no longer in use.

In your brain, these unused neural pathways have been shown to shrink in size. But never fear! These pathways can be regained, and surprisingly quickly too. Big changes can be seen in your brain within 8 weeks of starting a new activity. It is like going ice skating or rollerblading. The first time, you are holding onto the edge of the rink the entire time, maybe being co-ordinated enough to do a couple of laps on your own at the end. The next time, you are able to pick it up a lot quicker, because your brain remembers the motor patterning required to stop you falling over. The activity has been learned, but if you stop and try again a few years later, your brain has to direct attention to this pathway again and it will take a few goes to get comfortable again.

Use It or Lose It

A little cliché, but mostly true when it comes to the brain. So it is simple, use it! Whatever skill or activity you would like to do, do it. It may take a little time to get started and feel confident, but the more often you do something, the easier it becomes. The concepts you have learnt are not really ‘lost’, but the brain prioritises the things used most often. It could be brain training apps, doing the sudoku or cryptic crossword, playing chess or lawn bowls, doing Tai Chi or going to the gym. Whatever you do regularly, your brain is ready for.

Chiropractic

So where does chiropractic fit in all this? Chiropractic has been shown to help the brain and the body talk to each other more efficiently, which could make learning new skills and motor patterns an easier process. Chiropractic adjustments have been described as ‘tuning the radio’. Back when there were analogue radios, if you didn’t have the dial in the right position, you could still hear the station, but there was a lot of static or ‘white noise’ over the top. By making sure your spine and nervous system are functioning properly, chiropractic can help your brain get correct signals from your nervous system without this ‘white noise’ garbling anything.

This can help with many aspects of life, anything from balance and co-ordination issues, falls prevention, blood pressure regulation, the list goes on. There was a study a couple of years ago that stated:
12 weeks of chiropractic care has resulted in improvements in some factors that are important for falls risk (sensory and motor function), as well as improvement in the physical component of quality of life in a group of older adult people.

If 3 months of chiropractic could reduce your risk of injury from a fall, and improve your motor function, why wouldn’t you get adjusted?

Challenge yourself

When was the last time you did something for the first time? Getting older, it is easy to say no to activities. While it is good to say no sometimes, getting out and experiencing activities is excellent for you mental and physical health. The local community has so many amazing activities and programs available, no matter your age. The Ballarat City Council is beginning a wonderful program to get more activities organised for older people, contact them for more information. If there is something you would like to try, get out and try it!

Social Connection

We as humans are social creatures, there is no denying it. We are hardwired to seek out community, support and friendship. Social isolation is a very real concern for older people. Especially as we get older, it can be hard to find new social connections. But trying a new activity will open these doors for you, which can improve your emotional and physical heath immensely. By joining a club there could be opportunity for social events, or you could hear about other events from your new friends.
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So while no one wants to get ‘old’, there is so much you can do to maintain or even improve your physical, emotional and brain health as you age. It is never too late to start a new activity or learn a new skill, and who knows, you might find something you wish you had started years ago!