Nearly 15% of the population has a range of gut reactions, from irritable bowel syndrome to chronic constipation. 

Did you know that the majority of these reaction often reflect ones emotional state?

Lets talk about how Stress, anxiety and depression can lead to gut problems 

1st- the biomechanial reactions that happen when we are not at ease. 
- When the brain perceives a threat, the hypothalamus is triggered (this co ordinates all our vital functions and releases the stress hormone CRF)
- When CRF levels are high enough, it switches organs like the gut into stress mode. 
- Studies show spiking CRF levels give symptoms of severe belly pain
- This can lead to the gut contracting more and when the contents are removed, it can result in diarrhoea. 
- Or then gut can reverse its emptying and empty upwards and the gut wall becomes leakier and colon secretes more water and mucus. 

2nd- How the Brain and the Guts nervous system communicate. 
-The brain sends two sets of nerve signals, those that stimulate and those that inhibit gut stimulation. 
Reference 
 
3rd- The limbic system 
Emotion-specific circuits within the limbic system get activated when you're angry, scared, feel hurt and when you feel hungry and/or thirsty. 
The emotion related brain circuits send signals to the stomach when we face situations to rid it of some contents that might drain energy required for action. (hence why we need to go to the bathroom when we get nervous about a meeting etc)

Mind-Gut Connection, The: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health
Mayer, Emeran.2018. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

With rates of obesity increasing and our gut health declining, we need to look after our health and diet more efficiently, to help tackle our emotional and health problems. 

In just 40 years, the rate of obesity has increased from 13% to 35%. Our gut has influence on our basic emotions, our pain sensitivity and our social interactions.

Our gut has its own nervous system , the enteric nervous system, and is made up of 50-100 million nerve cells. 

There is more immune cells in the wall of our gut than circulating in the blood and bone marrow. 

Our brain, gut and microbes in our body actually communicate to each other, and this is how the gut can influence your emotional state. 

The brain influences your gut first, and the signals are generated by your microbes, and thees signals in turn communicate back to the brain, which can reinforce and can prolong the emotional state. 

Recent studies have also begun to directly test the link between gut microbiota and behavioural abnormalities. 

Studies have also found a link between Parkinsons and the gut. The enteric nervous system in the gut appears to undergo nerve degeneration typical of Parkinsons BEFORE the classical Parkinsons symptoms appear. 

Depression is one of the most common disabilities. Studies have shown that 95% of the bodies serotonin is contained in cells in the gut. Furthermore, these cells are influenced by what we eat. You guessed it, the same cells in the gut that are influenced by what we eat are connected to the sensory nerves that relay messages to the brains emotion regulating centre. 

Reference 
Mind-Gut Connection
Mayer, Emeran.
2015.: HarperCollins Publishers.

#Chiropractor #Chiropractic #Sunbury #Bundoora #mentalhealth #health #Gut #Food #Depression #instahealth #healthcare

What is the function of Potassium?
Nerve Transmission 
Water Balance 
Heart Function 
Kidney function 
Adrenal Function 

What are some good sources?
Apples 
Bananas 
Carrots 
Oranges 
Peaches 
Plums
Strawberries 
Meat
Fish 

Deficienct Signs 
Muscle wasting and spasms 
Mood Changes 
Nerve Problems 

Optimal Intake is 2000-3000 mg daily 

Toxicity levels: people with heart/kidney conditions and are on blood pressure medication should not take potassium unless the G.P has instructed to 

Reference 
Prescription for natural cures
Balch, James F., Stengler, Mark. and Young-Balch, Robin.2011. Hoboken: Wiley.

#Chiropractic #Chiropractor #Sunbury #Bundoora #Potassium #minerals #healthyliving #instahealth #Health#diet 

What is Calcium's function?

Bone and tooth formation, muscle contraction, heartbeat, blood clotting and nerve impulse. 

Great sources for Calcium are:

Kelp, cheese, kale, almonds, yogurt, milk, broccoli and soy 

What are some signs that you maybe deficient?

Insomnia and muscle and leg crams 

Normallly there are no signs of toxic effect with large doses, some research shows people with kidney stones should avoid high doses 

Optimal intake is 1000 to 15000 mg daily

Do you have
- Unremitting and constant pain 
- Widespread pain 
- Is the pain unresponsive to anti inflammatories like Nurofen
- Night pain and or disturbed sleep 

Research shows that patients presenting with low back pain and whiplash disorders can develop into chronic widespread pain nearly 1 in 4 times. 

Risk factors can be 
-Age 
-Longer duration of pain
-Anxiety and depression 

Chiropractic therapy, can it help?
Manual therapists aim to decrease muscle tension and increase joint range of motion to relieve the musculoskeletal pain 

As chronic low back pain is associated with altered spinal and cortical pain processing, Some studies are finding that chiropractic adjustments to the spine has temporal activation of antinoceiceptive pathways.  It can also reduce the widespread hypoalgesic effects. 

Exercise has shown to trigger peripheral and central processes like the pituitary and hypothalamus to enable analgesic effects. 

References 

Nijs J, Malfliet A, Ickmans K, Treatment of central sensitisation in patients with 'unexplained' chronic pain: an update. Expert Opinion on Pharmacology 2014: 15 (12): 1671-83
Sluka KA Et al A joint Mobilisation reduces hyperalgesia associated with chronic muscle and joint inflammation in rates . Journal of pain 2006 (8) 602-7
Bender T Et al The effect of physical therapy on beta endorphin levels. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2007: 100 (4): 371-82 

We see many chronic headache and migraine sufferers come into our clinic, you can read about our different type of headaches in our other blogs, tension headaches, headaches research and migraines 

Recent research into associations with gluten sensitivity and chronic headaches found:
- People with chronic headaches , 1 in 2 had gluten sensitivity.
- Nearly 1 in 3 chronic headache sufferers were celiac. 
- 1 in 5 migraine sufferers had celiac disease. 

A reason could be the fact that MRI scans show that there is often profound changes in the white matter in the brain of headache sufferers with gluten sensitivity. 

Did you know waist circumference is a better predictor of migraine activity than general obesity 

Woman with excess body fat around their belly are 30% more likely to suffer from migraines than woman without excess belly fat. 

Another study in children found that kids who where 40% more likely to suffer from headaches

Our brain only accounts for 2.5% of our body weight, but consumes 22% of our body's energy expenditure, so make sure you look after your health and feed your body with good fats and limit carbohydrates.

Exercise can have benefits like reductions in mobility in cardiovascular disease, obstructive pulmonary disease and age related chronic disorders. 

Regular exercise of moderate intensity increases levels of IL-6 and can trigger release of inhibitory IL-1ra and Il-10 from local endothelial cells, thus causing an anti inflammatory response

Interleukin 6 IL-6 is shown to activate pain fibres , even in the absence of inflation. 

Spinal adjustments have been shown to downregulate of substance p, as well as massage which is shown to decrease levels of substance p 

Substance P is a substance that can contribute to peripheral inflammation. 

Visceral Fat is the fat that is wrapped around our internal 'visceral" organs like the river, pancreas, heart and intestines. 

Visceral fat is able to trigger the inflammatory pathways in the body and can cause signalling molecules that can disrupt the body normal course of hormonal actions. 

As stated in pervious health blogs, excessive body fat increases insulin resistance, but also the production of inflammatory chemicals that can lead to brain degeneration. 

A 2005 study compared waist to hip ratios of more than 100 individuals. The larger the persons waist to hip ratio, the smaller the brains memory centre(the hippocampus)

Another study looked at brain images of individuals in their 60s and 70s. They found that individuals who had a body mass index of over 30, had brains 16 years older than people who had a healthy weight. 

BUT THERES HOPE! 

A study involved people who where over weight and had insulin problems 

Those after a year of only dieting had a 70% increase in insulin sensitivity. Those who dieted and exercised had 86% increase in insulin sensitivity 

A low carb high fat diet is always recommended over a low fat high carb diet. 

No doubt you have heard me in practice talking about inflammation, usually in regards to your muscles and joints. This article is about Acute (good) inflammation and Chronic (bad) inflammation and how it affects us

Acute inflammation involves 
- Enhanced Immune function- white blood cells are related and neutralise and remove invading organisms 
- Pain- chemicals can stimulate nerve endings so you know there is dysfunction and to avoid certain areas 
- Redness and Heat- blood vessels dilate to enhance healing 
- Sweeling and immobility- damaged cells release chemicals like histamine, bradykinin and prostogladins which allows blood vessels to leak fluid into tissue( thats how the swelling occurs)
- Phagocytosis- these can remove germs and damaged cells , and when phagocytes die pus will from a collection of the dead tissue and the lymphatic system takes care of the rest. 

Chronic Inflammation involves 
​- Arteries- injures the lining of the arteries. When the body tries to heal the injuries, more and more tissue is laid down and can lead to atherosclerosis.  This can reduce blow flow to heart and brain. 
- Brain- chronic inflammation and oxidative stress can lead to emotional depression and plaque(amyloid) and nuerofibrillary tangles (tau) in the brain. 
- Joints- Chronic inflammation can lead to arthritis. 
- Pancreas- Chronic inflammation can lead to insulin resistance. 

A study of over 25,000 men and woman found that lifestyle choice had a large impact on a variety of conditions. 

There are 4 healthy lifestyle factors.
1. Moderate exercise of at least 30 minutes 
2. No smoking
3. Normal weight 
4 .High intake fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low meat consumption 

The found the following

A 78% lower risk of developing ANY chronic disease 
A 93% lower risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes 
A 50% lower risk for a stroke 
A 36% reduction in all forms of cancer 

a 2018 study of over 100,000 patient found that if you followed those same 4 lifestyle facts and added not drinking to excess. You are likely to have lived 12 to 14 years longer!

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