Reduce your stress and improve your life
 
Dr. Hamilton Dowden of Pure Family Chiropractic in New Berlin offered a very informative presentation on stress management during our meeting on July 9. In addition to chiropractic care, Pure Family Chiropractic offers a corporate wellness program.
 
Using a bucket as an analogy for the human body, Dr. Dowden said that an increasing level of stress is like adding water to your "bucket". If you don't reduce intake or eliminate that "water," you reach a tipping point. That tipping point often is heart disease. "Ignoring a problem is not fixing a problem," Dr. Dowden said.
 
Our bodies face three types of stresses:
 
Physical: from sitting all day, a serious accident, physical exertion
 
Emotional: Work, home life, financial issues
 
Chemical: Alcohol, processed foods, caffeine, among others
 
Dr. Dowden's 5 tips for reducing stress and improving overall well being:
 
1. Exercise at least 30 minutes each day. If you can't exercise for 30 minutes straight, break into 10-minute increments: one in the morning, one during lunch, and one in the evening.
 
2. Create a "stop doing" list. As the name implies, these are activities or tasks that you are to eliminate: smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, tasks at work (let your manager know you need to restructure your work flow). "Create an actual list, and stop doing them," he says.
 
3. Take some down time. Schedule 10 minutes each day to relax and meditate. Make sure to turn off the radio, TV and other stimuli.
 
4. Drink more water. A good formula is 1/2 your weight in ounces of water. For a 200 lb. person, that means 100 oz. of water. In addition to helping maintain a proper hydration level, water flushes toxins from your body.
 
5. Maximize your intake of antioxidants. Dark green, leafy vegetables are best. Antioxidants remove free radicals from your body; those are known to cause cancer.