Stress and Your Health

Posted on April 1, 2019 by nwahealth in Awareness, Health and Wellness

Stress Awareness Month

At some point, everyone experiences stress in their life. Stress is different for everyone. What is stressful for one may not be stressful for another. Anything can cause stress. What is stress? It is anything that causes your body to change the way it is functioning right now. Stress can cause physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms. When you feel threatened your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. Your heart pounds faster, your muscles can start to tighten, your blood pressure rises, and your breath quickens.

When you feel stressed, you may start to experience excess sweating, pain in the back of the chest, headaches, high blood pressure, and cramps or muscle spasms. Stress not only takes a toll on you in a physical way but it also can affect you emotionally and behaviorally. If in a heightened state of stress you may expereince feelings of restlessness, anger, anxiety, sadness, and depression. You may find yourself unable to concentrate. You can be more forgetful and irritable if you are feeling stressed. All of these stressful feelings can cause you to overreact and have angry outbursts. Many people who expereince stress self medicate by overeating, using drugs or drinking alcohol.

Managing Stress

Stress is just a fact of life, but how you respond to it is most important. Stress can be overwhelming and if left unmanaged it can lead to serious health problems. If you are feeling stressed stop what you are doing, and take a moment to breathe. Time management and prioritizing your activities can help with feelings of being stressed. We can only do so much in a day. Take time to practice self-care, exercise, eat a balanced diet and rest. If you are feeling stressed communicate it to those around you, maybe they can help.

Acupuncture and massage are great tools to help relieve stress by restoring a healthy flow of energy. Both acupuncture and massage are powerful healing therapies that can provide complimentary health benefits.

Heart and Stroke Awareness Month

Posted on February 7, 2019 by nwahealth in Awareness, Health and Wellness

Here at NWA Health Solutions, we value preventative care. It is important for all of our readers to understand the importance of preventative care and taking the right steps toward a healthier heart. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer worldwide, with stroke ranking second. Even when those conditions don’t result in death they can cause disability and diminish the quality of life. Heart disease can be prevented by making heart-healthy choices, knowing your family health history, being aware of the risk factors, having regular check-ups and working with your physician to manage your health.

Understand Your Risks to Prevent a Heart Disease or Stroke

Knowledge is power. Take the time to educate yourself on heart and stroke risk factors. The American Heart Association recommends focusing on heart disease prevention early in life. The sooner you can identify your risk factors the sooner you can start managing them. By learning your risk factors and managing them you have a better chance of living a healthy life and lowering your risk of heart disease or stroke.

Major Risk Factors that you can Modify:

High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Obesity and being overweight
Diabetes
Atrial fibrillation
Stress
Tobacco Use: Smokers are at a higher risk than non-smokers
Alcohol consumption: Drinking too much can raise blood pressure. If you drink, drink in moderation.

Prevention:

A heart attack or stroke can happen at any age. It is never too early to start living a healthier lifestyle. The first step is assessing your risk factors and the second step is managing your risk factors. An active lifestyle and a healthy diet can be very helpful in prevention.

If you smoke, stop
Manage your blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and atrial fibrillation with your primary care physician
Good nutrition
Physical activity

Did You Know?

Recent studies have shown that massage therapy and acupuncture can help lower certain risk factors for heart disease and stroke. A consistent massage program can decrease diastolic and systolic blood pressure and lower sources of depression and anxiety. Massage therapy is a safe, effective way to help control blood pressure. It can be used in health care centers and even at home.

With its capacity to regulate blood pressure acupuncture can also reduce the stress response that may increase blood pressure. Acupuncture can effectively treat elevated blood pressure due to increased vascular stiffness and constriction by working through the central nervous system to relax blood vessels. Acupuncture can also help stabilize blood sugar by correcting endocrine system imbalances.

NWA Health Solutions is proud to offer both massage therapy and acupuncture in our office. We are committed to providing our community with the best healthcare options.

Why Choose Chiropractic Care/ Thyroid Conditions

Posted on February 15, 2018 by nwahealth in Uncategorized

Why would someone with a Thyroid Condition CHOOSE Chiropractic Care?

You must be wondering, why in the world would I need to see a Chiropractor if I have thyroid issues…

First of all, What is a thyroid disorder and better yet what does your thyroid even do?

Your thyroid is located above the Adam’s apple, your thyroid produces thyroid hormone (TH), which regulates, among other things, your body’s temperature, metabolism and heart. WOW!!! The thyroid-that little gland does all that? Yes, it does.

In healthy people, the thyroid makes just the right amounts of two hormones, T3 and T4. These hormones have important actions throughout the body. Most importantly, they regulate many aspects of our metabolism, affecting how many calories we burn how warm we feel, how much we weigh… and our general well being.

IN SHORT, THE THYROID “RUNS” OUR METABOLISM- IT’S LITERALLY THE “GAS PEDAL” OF THE BODY.

In today’s world, people are uneducated as to what a Chiropractor does. Chiropractors are much more than just cracking backs. When it comes to Thyroid and autoimmune thyroid conditions, Chiropractors are about balancing the nervous system. And the nervous system innervates every cell and tissue in the body. So, there happens to be “interference” with the nerves which innervate the thyroid gland, then this possibly can result in malfunctioning of the thyroid gland.

If your thyroid is under or over active, things can start to go wrong. If it is sluggish, it produces too little TH; amped- up and it produces too much. So, what exactly causes this gland to go erratic? There are a lot of things that can cause it to go haywire.. Such as, an autoimmune attack, pregnancy, stress, nutritional deficiencies, toxins in the environment and it could even be genetics. Therefore, because the thyroid hormones extend across the body- from brain to bowels- it is difficult to diagnose a thyroid disorder.

If someone has a nervous system that is out of balance, since the nervous system controls the immune system, then this person very well might have an immune system that is out of balance as well. As a result this weakened immune system, the person will be more likely to develop a chronic infection, which in turn can trigger an autoimmune response. Or it could be a nervous system imbalance which could be making the person more susceptible to the effects of stress, which in turn can cause leaky gut, which in turn can cause an autoimmune thyroid condition.

Symptoms that you could be experiencing with a thyroid condition:

You’re tired, completely exhausted
Mood Changes/Mood Swings, despression and anxiety
Your appetite and taste buds have changed
Your brain feels fuzzy
Your bowels are unpredictable
You have dry skin, brittle nails and excessive hair loss
You have pain in your extremities and/or muscles
You have high blood pressure
You may be experiencing chills- cold hands and feet, feeling cold when others are not, body temperature could be consistently below 98.5
Maybe your neck feels funny
You’re experiencing sleep issues
Your hair maybe thinning or falling out
You have high cholesterol
You have gained weight, inability to lose weight
Hormone imbalances such as PMS, irregular periods, infertility, low sex drive
You could be feeling down

Have you currently been on medication for a thyroid condition? Still feeling the same after years of medication? Been to the doctor with any of the following signs and symptoms and still no answers?

Fed up with no ANSWERS…

Dr. Josh Rowden is also fed up!

“It is a disturbing trend that I observe concerning the management of thyroid conditions.. -the disturbing trend: most thyroid sufferers are managed EXACTLY the same! This really bothers me because I understand from my KNOWLEDGE of NEUROLOGY that no two people react the same… especially with the endocrine dysfunction.”

-Dr. Josh Rowden

So… The real question is: Why would you not seek Chiropractic Care?

We can support and manage your thyroid condition naturally and you may not need any medication at all. Don’t get us wrong, OUR OFFICE will NEVER tell you to stop taking your current medications. NWA Health Solutions actually work WITH your PCP to get you feeling better as quickly as possible. How?

We use very specific blood tests, which may include any or all of the following, depending on the individual. Here at NWA Health Solutions, we want to see your blood work, our Doctors want to dig deep into the root of your issue.

Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)- Usually what a PCP will test for
Free T3
Free T4
Thyroid Antibodies (TGB & TPO)
Reverse T3
Total T4
Free Thyroxine Index (FTI)
Resin T3 Uptake
Complete Metabolic Profile (CMP)
Lipid Panel
Complete Blood Count (CBC) w/ differential
Urinalysis

We also test to see if you have an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease is where your immune system attacks a particular area of the body (like the thyroid, for instance), so we test for specific thyroid antibodies to determine if YOU suffer from an autoimmune thyroid disease.

We can also check for gluten antibodies, myelin (fatty sheath around the nerves) antibodies, cerebellar (back part of the brain controlling balance, coordinated movement, and spinal muscles) antibodies.

Additionally we can test your adrenal glads (small glads on top of the kidners)via an Adrenal Stress Index (ASI), as many thyroid sufferers also suffer from adrenal problems.

How does consulting with NWA Health Solutions work?

Every new client we work with begins with a case review and consultation. When you schedule your case review and consultation, we will send you our comprehensive case history and dietary and nutritional questionnaire. This allows us to learn everything about your case and your history.

During the initial consultation we are going to thoroughly discuss your case and talk about the dietary, lifestyle and supplemental changes we can make immediately to make a positive impact on your condition.

We are also going to discuss the specific lab tests that will give us the specific information needed to uncover the causes of your condition.

Then we will make VERY specific lifestyle, nutrition and supplemental changes according to the results of your labs, custom tailored to your EXACT NEEDS.

Usually we will prescribe you a series of diet, lifestyle and supplemental changes and then schedule another consultation in the future. This will allow us to review your progress, review your most recent lab findings and move onto the next phase of care.

We can work together to truly support and manage your condition. Just remember that this takes time and we are going to take the necessary steps to help you reach your goals.

Patients want ANSWERS… -We give them SOLUTIONS!!

How We Stress

Posted on January 30, 2018 by nwahealth in Health and Wellness

The Essentials of How We Stress

Stress is generally thought of as being all bad. We associate it with feeling up-tight, uneasy, nervous, distracted, possibly sick, but generally miserable. Stress is just a fact of life, but how you respond to it is most important.

What is stress? It is anything that causes your body to change the way it is functioning right now. This involves more than just feeling frustrated, anxious, or pressed for time.

Although we tend to think of stress as purely emotional, life is a never ending series of three types of stress: Physical Stress, Nutritional Stress and Emotional Stress. The body is designed to survive all three types of stress.

Physical Stress comes from an actual threat of injury to your body. Physical activity and physical accidents put a stress on your body. Given time, your body will repair exercise injuries in a short time. Although physical trauma may leave a scar of some sort, it does not impose long-term stress on the body. Take care of immediate needs of physical stress, then return to life as usual. Physical stress is short term.

Pain in the human body

Emotional Stress comes from within. It originates in your conscious mind, your feelings, beliefs, memories, attitudes toward people and events in your life. Emotional Stress comes from your responses to events around you. You can suffer emotional stress along with physical stress. Being physically attacked, in a bad car accident, or another type of traumatic accident can create emotional stress long after the physical stress subsides. As long as your emotional stress continues, your physiology must adapt to handle it. These adaptations are conditions such as high blood pressure. You do not always have a choice about the situation, but you do have a choice about how your respond to the situation.

Nutritional Stress goes hand-in-hand with eating and drinking. Your body reacts to everything that enters it-an apple, a juicy hamburger, a vitamin, a prescription pill, cigarette smoke, city smog and even water. Either way, your body must handle it. If you eat an apple and the body doesn’t “handle” it, then it would rot and ferment. You would be in trouble. Putting the least amount of stress on the body is ideal; so the easier it is for the body to “handle” what enters it, the less undue stress is put on the body. Make healthy choices with what you choose to eat and drink.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine by thy food” -Hippocrates

Stress itself isn’t a problem, the way you deal with stress and for how long you deal with stress is the problem. Your response to stress is key. Your response determines how you feel mentally and physically. You have no control over how your body will respond to certain stimuli, however you can control the stimuli that prompt the responses- mainly your actions and thoughts.

Dr. Sarah Morter Rowden, D.C.

Dr. Josh Rowden, D.C.

5300 South Southern Hills Court

Suite 200, Rogers, AR 72758

479-636-1324