Friday, July 17, 2015

Your Hardware / Your Software




wellness
Regular Chiropractic Care and Nerve System Health
The main components of your nerve system's "hardware" are the neurons, that is, the nerve cells themselves. There are more than 100 billion neurons in the brain and several hundred trillion synapses connecting these nerve cells. It is estimated that you have more neuronal connections in your brain than the number of stars in the sky. As your body's master system, your nerve system controls the functioning of every cell, tissue, and organ that comprise your body. Thus, the health of your nerve system is critical to your health and well being. Problems arise when spinal misalignments are present. Such biomechanical dysfunction causes spinal nerve irritation and nerve interference. The result of nerve interference is musculoskeletal pain and symptoms of various diseases. Regular chiropractic care helps maintain the health of spinal nerves and your nerve system by removing nerve irritation and nerve interference. Thus, the short- and long-term benefit of regular chiropractic care is enhanced health, wellness, and well being.
The metaphor linking the human brain with computer hardware is now so well known that it features regularly in news media stories. But computers have only been with us since Colossus and ENIAC (electronic numerical integrator and computer) were constructed in the mid-1940s. The metaphor linking the code embedded in human DNA and computer software is less frequently cited. The general public only became aware of the concept of computer software in the early 1980s, with the launch of IBM's Personal Computer in 1981 and Apple's Macintosh computer in 1984. In contrast, our genetic code has been evolving for 2 million years.
We could consider computer hardware the metaphorical analog of the human nerve system, consisting of the brain, spinal and peripheral nerves, and neurons (nerve cells).1,2 The nerve system comprises the physical structures that initiate and transmit electrical signals that control the physiological processes of your cells, tissues, and organs. Activities involving your heartbeat, your breath, your digestion, and hormonal function are all regulated and directed by interaction with the nerve system.
Computer software provides encoded instructions for programs that run on the processors, memory banks, buses, and drives of the computer hardware structure. Such programming is analogous to our genetic code, which contains instructions for the growth, development, and functioning of every cell in our bodies. The nerve system carries out its functions based on instructions derived from the DNA contained within its cells.
Computers and the software they run on do not require much maintenance. You certainly don't want to spill coffee on your keyboard and you don't want crumbs to wander into any open ports or drive slots. You do want to backup your files and run security checks periodically. But that's about it. In contrast, the human body requires a fair amount of upkeep in order to ensure optimal performance. Many people are unwilling to do 30 minutes of vigorous exercise 5 times a week. Many people will not take the time to shop for nutritious food and prepare healthful meals.3 But if you engage in these important activities on a regular basis, you will go far to securing long-term health for yourself and your family.
Most of us put a lot of thought into decisions concerning our computers and the software we're going to run on them. We take good care of these helpers of our personal and business activities. But few of us are similarly conscientious when it comes to taking care of our own health and well-being. It would profit all of us greatly to take such care of our metaphorical hardware and software, that is, the physical and physiological structures that keep us healthy and well.
http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/
1Cash SS, Hochberg LR: The emergence of single neurons in clinical neurology. Neuron 86(1):79-91, 2015
2Xu J, et al: What does a neuron learn from multisensory experience? J Neurophysiol 113(3):883-889. 2015
3Asher G, Sassone-Corsi P: Time for Food: The Intimate Interplay between Nutrition, Metabolism, and the Circadian Clock Cell 161(1):84-92, 2015

Thursday, July 9, 2015

The Common Core


girl_eating_watermelon.jpg
Core Strength and Regular Chiropractic Care
When you begin a core muscle strengthening program, it's important to ensure that your spinal biomechanical structures are functioning at their optimum. Proper functioning of your spinal vertebras is especially significant in the context of core muscle strength. The presence of spinal misalignments causes tightness of small muscle groups that connect adjacent vertebras and of large muscle groups that connect spinal regions such as the mid back and low back. Muscle tightness leads to pain and persistent tightness leads to pain that may last for days, weeks, or months. Core muscle strengthening becomes very difficult in the presence of such tightness and pain. In fact, when spinal misalignments are left uncorrected, attempting to perform core exercises may even cause injury. By detecting, analyzing, and correcting spinal misalignments, regular chiropractic care helps restore normal biomechanical function to your spine and, correspondingly, to the rest of your musculoskeletal system. As a result, regular chiropractic care helps you get the most benefit from your core strengthening activities and helps you become healthier overall.
Core strength is critical for everyday activities such as placing heavy grocery bags into the trunk of your automobile, carrying a gallon jug of milk from the refrigerator to the dining room table, and even walking to the mailbox. When your core strength is diminished, even bending over to pick up a pencil may result in a serious spinal injury. Weakened core musculature causes simple, daily physical activities to be problematic. When standing up from a seated position or getting into a car causes you to experience twinges in your back, you may be sure your core muscles are not working in the manner for which they were designed.
Your core muscles consist of the four abdominal muscles – the transversus abdominis, internal obliques, external obliques, and rectus abdominis – and back muscles such as the erector spinae, longissimus thoracis, and multifidi. The most important core muscle may be the transversus abdominis, a sheet of horizontally oriented muscle that lies underneath the other abdominal muscles and provides deep mechanical support to the low back and pelvis. Similarly important are the multifidi, a group of small, powerful, deep spinal muscles that interconnect pairs and series of vertebras.
In times past, when the concept of work meant actual physical labor, there was no need to pay attention to training the core. In those days, your core muscles were being trained all day long by lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling loads with heavy resistances and/or bending, digging, hoeing, planting, and raking. Working on a farm or in a factory provided more than sufficient exercise for the core. But in today's developed world, farming and manufacturing jobs have been greatly reduced and the large majority of work is done in the so-called service sector. In the 21st century, people living in developed nations spend the largest portion of their day sitting at a desk. In such circumstances the core musculature will weaken drastically, unless specific attention is paid to training these muscles.1,2
The good news is that a wide variety of exercises are available for training the core. Most of them require no equipment. Many of them may be done at home and do not even require a gym membership. For example, yoga provides thorough and complete exercise for core muscles. Self-motivated persons might only need a yoga DVD and a yoga mat, minimizing financial cost and doing their yoga training at home. For others, taking yoga classes at a gym or yoga center might be more appropriate. But yoga is only one possible solution. Numerous highly efficient core exercises may be done on a physioball. Dynamic exercises such as the plank provide substantial core benefit and the only equipment requirement is a mat. Other dynamic exercises include squats, gluteus bridge, lunges, jumping jacks, and the grapevine.
When you spend the time to make sure your core musculature is strong, daily physical activities begin to be done with ease and grace. Back pain and other mechanical aches and injuries fade into memory.3 The overall result is a body that works efficiently and optimally. Thus, a strong core helps provide for a lifetime of health and well-being.
http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/

1Kumar T, et al: Efficacy of core muscle strengthening exercise in chronic low back pain patients. J Back Musculoskel Rehabil  2014 Dec 2. [Epub ahead of print]
2Granacher U, et al: Effects of core instability strength training on trunk muscle strength, spinal mobility, dynamic balance and functional mobility in older adults. Gerontology 59(2):105-113, 2013
3Huxel Bliven KC, Anderson BE: Core stability training for injury prevention. Sports Health 5(6):514-522, 2013

Friday, June 26, 2015

Tips for Good Hip Health



exercise for healthy hips
Walking, Running, and Regular Chiropractic Care
We take a lot for granted as far as our bodies are concerned. Essentially we're given our bodies for free, and it's often hard to value and care for something we're given but didn't actually earn. Unfortunately, as many of us learn, without care our bodies will break down, possibly sooner rather than later. Entropy is a universal principle, and ongoing work is required to maintain order and function in all systems and all machines. Regular chiropractic care is an example of such ongoing work. A healthy nerve system is required for optimal functioning of all your other physiological systems including the cardiorespiratory, digestive, immune, and hormonal systems. When your nerve system isn't functioning properly, these other systems break down. Regular chiropractic care removes nerve interference, making it possible for all the other systems of your body to do their jobs. From a biomechanical perspective, balance is restored and stress points are removed, making it possible to engage in and enjoy activities such as walking and running over many years of a healthy life.
Having a pair of healthy hips is a key to healthy aging. But healthy hips are not only important for people in their 60s, 70s, and beyond. Your hips are one of your most important structural components, regardless of how old you are. Whether you're 20, 30, or 40, your hip joints provide biomechanical support to your entire body. Thus, keeping your hips healthy is a necessary consideration for everyone who wants to be healthy and well throughout a long life.
Healthy hips do not happen automatically. Your body's physiology follows the biomechanical principle of "use it or lost it". Muscles, bones, and joints that do work on a regular basis are strengthened and enhanced. Those musculoskeletal elements that don't do much physical work are broken down, so that molecular building blocks such as amino acids and nutrients such as calcium can be put to better use elsewhere. In other words, if you're haven't done much exercise in a while, weight-bearing joints such as the hips, knees, and ankles will begin to degrade. However, even as these joints lose optimal structural integrity, gravitational forces persist. The long-term result of such weakened joints is strains and sprains, degenerative arthritis, and possibly other inflammatory conditions. These disorders likely involve daily ongoing pain, which may become moderate or severe.
In the absence of conservative treatment and rehabilitative exercise, such conditions may ultimately require joint replacement. These procedures are becoming increasingly common, with total hip replacements and total knee replacements being performed on younger and younger patients. For example, annual rates for total hip replacement in the United States in patients aged 45 and older have almost doubled between 2000 and 2010.1
Importantly, many hip joint problems can be prevented by instituting appropriate lifestyle changes. As the cause of many of these degenerative conditions is long-term lack of use, the solution lies in activity and physical work. In Western nations, physical labor is becoming increasingly uncommon. Most of us work in service-type industries and spend most of our days sitting at a desk. As a result, physical work is now typically obtained by engaging in regular, vigorous exercise. By performing five 30-minute sessions of vigorous weight-bearing exercise every week, we will restore and maintain sufficient healthy stress on our muscles, bones, and joints.
As these musculoskeletal structures undergo physical loads and perform mechanical work, your body responds by making them stronger.2-4 New blood vessels are built to supply these structures with increasing amounts of oxygen and other nutrients. New cells are built to support existing tissues. Worn-out cells are removed more efficiently. The entire musculoskeletal system is revitalized in response to regular, vigorous exercise. The long-term result is healthy hips, knees, and ankles, as well as a healthy spine. These weight-bearing structures work synergistically to help provide you with long-term health.
http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/
1Hospitalization for Total Hip Replacement Among Inpatients Aged 45 and Over: United States, 2000–2010. NCHS Data Brief No. 186, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 2015
2Qian JG, et al: Effectiveness of Selected Fitness Exercises on Stress of Femoral Neck using Musculoskeletal Dynamics Simulations and Finite Element Model. J Hum Kinet 41:59-70, 2014
3Bolam KA, et al: The effect of physical exercise on bone density in middle-aged and older men: a systematic review. Osteoporosis Int 24(11):2749-2762, 2013
4Hill KD, et al: Individualized home-based exercise programs for older people to reduce falls and improve physical performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Maturitas 2015 Apr 29. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2015.04.005. [Epub ahead of print]

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Time's Arrow




senior chiropractic care
Longevity and Regular Chiropractic Care
Regular chiropractic care is a key component of all programs promoting healthy aging. We all grow older, but those of us who grow older and retain relatively youthful levels of health and vigor are those who have incorporated specific lifestyles into their daily habits. These health-promoting lifestyles include a nutritious diet, regular moderate-to-high intensity exercise, and sufficient rest. Engaging in these healthy behaviors provides your body with the raw materials it needs to function at peak effectiveness and efficiency. Regular chiropractic care helps ensure that your nerve system, your body's master system, provides accurate instructions to the rest of your body's systems so that you make optimal use of these raw materials. The long-term result is a process of growing older based on a foundation of health and well being.
As we get older, most of us begin to experience the acceleration of the passage of time. The sensation of time passing gets faster and faster, until for many of us weeks begin to feel like days and months begin to feel like weeks. This is very disconcerting and we'd like to be able to slow things down. We'd like to make the months and years whiz by a little less quickly. This isn't possible, of course, from the point of view of time itself, and the only comfort may lie in the fact that everyone else is experiencing similar phenomena. "Time flies" is a common expression. But there are solutions, relative ones, by which we may get a better grasp on our personal relationship to time and time's effect on our physical bodies.
The first solution is associated with the concept of present time consciousness. In other words, the more you actually experience the present moment itself, the more you will be participating in what these moments offer and the more you will be getting out of the experiences of which your life is comprised. "Being present" is a skill that gets stronger with practice. There's always the tendency for our minds to wander off on any other track than the one we want to be on, that is, being present. But with practice our ability to be present in the moment expands. One of the remarkable benefits of this practice is that our experience of time passing slows down. By being present, our hours, days, and weeks become much more meaningful. We experience more of life and the passage of time no longer washes over us like an unending series of 20-foot waves.
The second solution involves taking better care of ourselves. When we're healthy and well, each day is more enjoyable. When we're healthy and well, our physical state is not a daily concern and we're free to do what we want. We can read, study, exercise, engage in new work activities, or simply relax and watch a movie without the concerns and constraints of physical pain and disease. Our ability to participate in these unique experiences enriches our lives and makes the passage of time a joy rather than a burden. But as with the skill of being present, the skill of being healthy and well requires practice. Such practice takes the form of eating a nutritious diet,1,2 doing regular vigorous exercise,3 and getting sufficient rest. With these practices in place, we are well on our way to increasing our long-term levels of health and wellness.
Thus, although we cannot control the actual passage of time, we can control our relationship to the phenomenon of time passing. By learning the skill of present time consciousness and practicing healthy behaviors, we become able to add more life to our years and may even be adding more years to our lives.
http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/

1Paddon-Jones D, et al: Protein and healthy aging. Am J Clin Nutr 2015 Apr 29. pii: ajcn084061. [Epub ahead of print]
2Royston KJ, Tollefsbol TO: The Epigenetic Impact of Cruciferous Vegetables on Cancer Prevention. Curr Pharmacol Rep 1(1):46-51, 2015
3Gonzales JU: Do older adults with higher daily ambulatory activity have lower central blood pressure? Aging Clin Exp Res 2015 May 22. [Epub ahead of print]

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Your Personal Cloud




Regular Chiropractic Care Supports a Healthy Brain
When we think about taking care of our bodies, we usually don't specifically consider taking care of our brains. Oddly, the brain is an afterthought. But your brain's health and welfare is critically important to your overall well-being. Regarding brain physiology, the primary concern is the status of arteries and arterioles, the blood vessels that supply your brain cells with oxygen and other nutrients. Arterioles clogged by cholesterol- and fat-containing plaque may weaken over time and eventually burst, causing varying degrees of loss of neurologic function and even death.
The primary means of prevention of such arteriosclerotic disease is to engage in regular vigorous exercise and eat consistently nutritious food selected from all five food groups. Regular chiropractic care helps you get the most out your exercise program and nutritious diet. By keeping your spine aligned and your nerve system operating at full capacity, regular chiropractic care helps you achieve optimum levels of good health, including healthy brain function.
The concept of cloud computing has become a buzzword in recent years. The notion of "the cloud" originally referred to data storage. You could backup your computer files or even an image of your hard drive to a server bank in some remote location. Now you can access fully featured software programs via the cloud, including well-known productivity and photo editing programs. Cloud computing enables you to save money you would have spent on costly software packages and frees up valuable space on your home or office networks. The only drawback involves security issues, but such issues exist on your local networks as well.
The computing paradigm has taken over more and more not only of our work day, but our recreational environments as well. As a result, it has become increasingly easy to neglect and ultimately forget about the precious components of human physiology upon which all computing systems are based, that is, our very own brain and central nervous system.
There are serious downsides to such neglect and lack of care. Most of us are aware of the need to engage in regular vigorous exercise and eat a consistently nutritious diet. We do these things because we've learned the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Of course, these healthful activities support the functioning of your brain and central nervous system. But your brain requires more than mere physiological sustenance. Your brain itself requires the performance of actual work so that it can continue to do what it was designed to do.1 The critical function of your brain is to provide you with creative, innovative solutions to the challenges you face every day to the survival and welfare of you and your family.
Your brain is staggeringly complex. It is estimated there are more connections among your brain cells than there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Specifically, there are more than 100 billion neurons in your brain, with several 100 trillion (1014) and possibly as many as 1 quadrillion (1015) connections. This massive network is built for heavy lifting, but most of us now fritter away this priceless resource as we spend seemingly endless hours talking and texting on our cell phones and playing games on our phones, tablets, and laptops.
Now we may be developing eye-hand coordination when we lose an entire afternoon playing race car and other arcade-style games.2,3 But as the great philosophers have known for almost 3000 years, actual thinking is the best and most worthwhile use we can make of the free gift of self-awareness we receive as humans. Only thinking will provide us with the tools and techniques we require to grow, develop, and thrive in our increasingly complex and shrinkingly small global village. But the skill (or art) of thinking is based on training. Fortunately such training is available everywhere and the cost is frequently only that of time. Reading books is the primary training ground for developing the skill of critical thinking that will make a difference in our lives. Reading books that challenge you, followed by study and practice, will hone and refine your ability to actually think and make use of your brain, your own personal cloud. Surprisingly, and possibly shockingly, everything we need for such life-enhancing thinking is available right there "within" us.

http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/

1Vigliecca NS, Baez S: Screening executive function and global cognition with the Nine-Card Sorting Test: healthy participant studies and ageing implications. Psychogeriatrics 2015 Mar 3. doi: 10.1111/psyg.12104. [Epub ahead of print]
2Moisala M, et al: Brain activity during divided and selective attention to auditory and visual sentence comprehension tasks. Front Hum Neurosci 2015 Feb 19;9:86. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00086
3Banerjee S, et al: Interests shape how adolescents pay attention: the interaction of motivation and top-down attentional processes in biasing sensory activations to anticipated events. Eur J Neurosci 41(6):818-834, 2015

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

One, Two, or Three Miles?




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Regular Chiropractic Care and Injury Prevention
Cardiovascular exercise such as walking, running, biking, and swimming is a necessary component of all exercise programs. But as with all forms of exercise, the possibility for injury exists and must be accounted for. Hamstring, quadriceps, and calf muscle strains are common examples of cardiovascular exercise-related injuries. Low back muscles and ligaments may be injured as well. A complete training program is one that minimizes the likelihood of injury and is supported by regular chiropractic care. Exercise-related injuries are often the result of faulty biomechanics. Such imbalances put excessive loads on one side of your body versus the other side. As time goes on the overworked side will begin to fail, and injury to the low back or one of the large muscle groups of the leg will occur. Regular chiropractic care detects and corrects spinal misalignments, the primary source of faulty biomechanics. By helping restore and maintain optimal functioning of your spine, regular chiropractic care helps you avoid painful injuries and setbacks in your training program. The result is improved fitness, health, and long-term well-being.
Even experienced exercisers sometimes find it difficult to know how much to do. For the beginner this uncertainty represents a significant stumbling block. Fortunately well-established guidelines and protocols exist to provide assistance to all exercisers, regardless of your skill level.

 In general, the beginning exerciser requires the most instruction. The key is to build up strength and endurance slowly and not do too much too soon. In terms of strength training, the best plan is to determine at what weight you can comfortably perform three sets of eight repetitions. If you can't do three sets of eight reps at the weight you've selected, it's too heavy. If doing three sets of eight reps with the weight you've chosen doesn't feel like anything at all, then the weight is too light. Overall, of course, too light is better than too heavy. The majority of strength training injuries occur when you're attempting to train with an inappropriately heavy weight.

 For example, you've selected 15-pound dumbbells with which to perform your bench press routine. You can comfortably do three sets of eight reps. Fifteen pounds is not too light and not too heavy. During the course of your next several weight training sessions, build up to three sets of 12 reps using the 15-pound dumbbells. When you can do three sets of 12 reps successfully, the next time you do your bench press routine you'll increase the weight by approximately 10%. In other words, you'll use the next heaviest weight, which is usually 17.5 pounds in a well-equipped gym. Begin with three sets of eight reps with the 17.5-pound dumbbells, and progress over the next several sessions to three sets of 12 reps. Then you'll repeat the sequence with 20-pound dumbbells, starting at three sets of eight reps and building up to three sets of 12 reps. You'll follow this formula with all of your strength training exercises. In this way, using a safe, smart, and graduated program, you'll consistently build lean muscle mass, gain improved strength and efficiency of your cardiovascular system, and most likely lose several pounds as stored fat is converted to muscle.1

The same principles apply to cardiovascular exercises such as walking, running, biking, and swimming. If you haven't exercised in a very long time, walking is a good method with which to begin.2,3 On your first day, go for a normally paced 10- or 15-minute walk. Don't be concerned that your walk feels like it's over only a few minutes after it's begun. Your main focus should be on getting started, not on how much or how little you're doing in the first few sessions. Over the course of four to six weeks, build up a minute or two each session until you're able to comfortably walk for 30 minutes at a moderate pace. At this point you can begin to increase your pace gradually, building up to a 30- or 40-minute walk at a brisk pace. At this level, you're going a very good, vigorous cardiovascular workout and your heart, lungs, and other components of your cardiorespiratory system are becoming stronger, healthier, and more efficient.
In this gradual, steady, measured way, all exercisers, of whatever age, prior experience, and skill level, can gain a lifetime of benefit from their fitness programs and minimize the likelihood of setbacks or injury.
http://lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/

1Hawkins M, et al: Impact of an exercise intervention on physical activity during pregnancy: the behaviors affecting baby and you study. Am J Public Health 2014 Oct;104(10):e74-81. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302072. Epub 2014 Aug 14
2Hanson S, Jones A: Is there evidence that walking groups have health benefits? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med 2015 Jan 19. pii: bjsports-2014-094157. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2014-094157. [Epub ahead of print]
3Varma VR, et al: Low-intensity daily walking activity is associated with hippocampal volume in older adults. Hippocampus 2014 Dec 7. doi: 10.1002/hipo.22397. [Epub ahead of print]

Thursday, May 14, 2015

20/20 Vision




girl_eating_watermelon.jpg
Regular Chiropractic Care Supports Your Goals of Health and Wellness
When you set your sights on the goal of achieving fitness and good health, it's important to be sure your plan of action is complete. You'll establish measurable goals for three of the main pillars of good health, that is, regular exercise, a nutritious diet, and sufficient rest. In addition, a complete action plan for achieving a healthy lifestyle that lasts includes regular chiropractic care. Regular chiropractic care helps ensure that the time you're spending on obtaining a healthy diet and regular, vigorous exercise is put to good use. In order to derive maximum benefit from the good food you're eating and the cardiovascular exercise and weight-training you're doing, your nerve system, your body's master system, must be functioning at peak efficiency. By detecting and correcting misalignments of the spine, regular chiropractic care helps restore and maintain a free flow of information from your brain to your body and from your body to your brain. By removing nerve interference, regular chiropractic care enables your nerve system to do its job. The result is optimum benefit from your lifestyle activities and greater levels of health and wellness.
All of us have thought, at one point or another, and possibly more than once, "I wish I knew then what I know now." It's been famously said that "hindsight is 20/20". Our clarity of thought with respect to what we should have done is frequently much more acute than was our thinking in those past irretrievable moments. However, some things are capable of being put right to a substantial degree. We cannot go back in time, but we can take steps in the present to redress certain relative failures of ours, specifically those regarding healthy lifestyle choices.
Of course, we don't get a "do-over" regarding the past 10, 20, or 30 years of relative neglect. But the very good news is that it's not too late to get back on track and obtain higher overall levels of health and well-being. It's not too late to begin making healthy lifestyle decisions that will provide a lifetime of benefit. Starting now, by taking action in the areas of regular exercise, a nutritious diet, and getting sufficient rest, you can obtain substantial across-the-board improvement in your health.1,2
How is it possible to gain such improvement, despite however many years of lack of attention to regular exercise and unhealthy eating? The answers lie in the dynamic nature of human physiology and the complexity of its internal feedback structures. One such dynamic process is the adaptive response to mechanical stress. For example, Wolff’s law states that bones remodel along lines of physiological stress. Exercise causes long bones and the bones of your pelvis to bear increased physiological loads during relatively short intervals. In turn, these load-bearing bones are stimulated to build new bone. Your bones become structurally stronger in response to physiological work. Similarly, large muscle groups such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, pectorals, and latissimus dorsi are stimulated to increase their mass and bulk. Regular, vigorous exercise causes growth of additional muscular tissue and development of new networks of blood vessels to supply these muscles with necessary oxygen and nutrients. In addition to your musculoskeletal system becoming stronger, leaner, and more efficient, your heart and lungs develop increased capacity and become more resilient. Physiological dynamic responses are also engaged when you shift your dietary habits toward a healthy regime. No matter your current condition and circumstances, by engaging in regular, vigorous exercise and healthy eating habits you will dramatically improve your levels of fitness, health, and well-being.3
Looking back with regret as what has occurred will not help us achieve what we want to achieve in the here and now. We can apply 20/20 vision to our present choices and choose healthy lifestyle behaviors now and into the future. The beneficiaries include our families, our friends, and ourselves.
http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/

1Schnohr P, et al: Dose of jogging and long-term mortality: the Copenhagen City Heart Study. J Am Coll Cardiol 65(5)411:419, 2015
2 Watson K, Baar K: mTOR and the health benefits of exercise. Semin Cell Dev Biol 36:130-9, 2014
3Kelley GA, et al: Effects of exercise on depression in adults with arthritis: a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arthritis Res Ther 17(1):21, 2015