What You Need to Know About Reentering the New Normal
By Dr. Molly Casey
The world is starting to stir and take life again after quarantine. Different states and regions of the world are in different phases of opening back up. No matter where you are, most will agree it is a process, not only within the community but also in your family, life and routine. What can you do to ease the shift? Here are a few tips below.
Go Slow
This is a weird time. Most people reading this have never experienced any life-altering national or worldwide experience like the COVID-19 pandemic. So just go slow. I often hear patients who've simply moved too fast as they talked about life and expressed their concerns, challenges and wins. Just because you haven’t physically been at the gym, taking kids to school or practices, or going to restaurants or movie theaters, doesn’t mean that you have to do them all at once. Compare this to not working out regularly for a good solid four months and then returning to the gym and training six days a week for an hour at a time and a 45-minute walk after dinner. This would not be an advisable approach and the extra physical stress of time and energy would not be healthy even if all those things are positive to your life overall.
Plan Extra Time
Another main reason folks experience an inordinate amount of stress in life is time, and what they perceive to be time restraints. Just because things are opening back up and everyone -- including you -- is raring to go doesn’t mean the speed of life and community will pick up like it was beforehand. For a while, at least, we’re experiencing a new normal. Plan extra time and allow yourself the extra space if the time allotted is not fully used. The flip side of this is chronic stress because of perceived lack of time, but in truth, if you’d planned properly -- or at least better -- the stress wouldn’t be there.
Get Outside
Spend as much time as humanly possible outside. Most of you have been in the same four or six or eight walls for the last few months. This wears on the spirit and the health of the body. Sure, maybe you’ve gotten in a walk or two, but it’s not nearly enough. At the beginning of the quarantine time, especially in certain areas of the country, the weather literally kept you inside. Your body needs sunshine and fresh air for optimal health. Although you can’t totally reverse the hours spent inside, you certainly can expose yourself as much as possible to nature and its healing elements. Go outside!
Health First
See Your Chiropractor. If you haven’t been out during the quarantine to see your chiropractor, get your spine checked and adjusted; make an appointment and go see them!
Each of the tips above are related to decreasing stress. Why is stress such a big deal? Whether it’s from a space or time perspective or a lack of nature, stress of any kind impedes your health and the function of your spine. This period has been riddled with the three causes of stress that affect the health and function of your spine and, therefore, your health. There is emotional stress (think kids home for long hours, anxiety, not knowing, worry), chemical stress (increased toxins, such as alcohol and crappy food), and physical stress (working from a makeshift home office for prolonged periods).
Your spine houses your nervous system. Your nervous system is your communication system and the foundation of your health and, ultimately, how you experience life. To best energize your level of health and wellness, and to improve the functioning of your spine and body, the joints of your spine must move optimally. Chiropractic adjustments improve and restore motion of spinal joints and facilitate optimal functioning of nervous system communication. To be the healthiest version of yourself, go get adjusted.
It’s a process. Remember that above all else, like everything else, this is a process. If you need help in that process, let the doctors at The Joint Chiropractic help you help yourself!
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