8 Foundations of Health
A patient's major focus is typically on the site of the pain in their body instead of overall health and we understand that, but we also understand how the body works as a whole and is only as strong as its weakest link.
Without some of the following prerequisites, your body doesn't stand a chance of dealing with a current injury or avoiding injury down the road. Many of these principles are commonly talked about but not fully understood and we like to make sure you know why we are asking you to make a modification in your life.
Think of this as getting all of the systems of your body working in harmony. Healthcare can appear very complicated when you look at parts of the body in isolation because you are constantly chasing symptoms and not dealing with the root causes. A healthy lifestyle isn’t complicated, it's just challenging to change patterns, especially in a society that doesn’t always support healthy decisions.
Pick just one of the following you think will help you and work on it, then another. Remember - Rome wasn't built in a day :) Whatever starts that Goal Snowball!
Hydration + Diet & Digestion
You gotta be well hydrated so that your systems work at their potential, but also so that your fascia is not starving for its main source of lubrication, WATER.
Everyone thinks about water as H2O and 8 cups a day, but that leaves out 2 very important other parts of the equation which are water quality and hydration from fruits and vegetables.
Additionally - It would be irresponsible for us to talk to you about diet and hydration without first talking to you about DIGESTION so let’s do a deep dive there first.
Sleep + Stress
Are you getting 7 hours of sleep per night and feel calm throughout the day? Unlikely, especially in today's day and age.
Planning to catch up on missed sleep tomorrow? It doesn’t really work like that. How much sleep do I really need and will it make me feel less stressed?
Sleep and stress are linked and luckily there are techniques to help you maximize your sleep and minimize your stress.
We also answer the question - Is stress really that bad?
Exercise + Ergonomics
Don't have an hour a day to exercise? No worries - you can get a beneficial response from as little as 7 minutes of intense exercise.
And really … how much physical activity do I really need??
Also - Think your ergonomic set up could be better? You're probably right - let's take a look at that together here
Breathing + Connection
What could be more important than breathing?!? Sure, everyone does it, but let's make sure you are doing it appropriately.
Breath is a “back-door” way to access the involuntary nervous system (fight or flight vs rest and digest) and there are a lot of schools of thought on how you should breathe. We believe that you can breathe differently for different benefits.
We may come across as hippies here, but the research is iron-clad. Connection to yourself (a part of mindfulness), your community, and nature are all intricate in optimum health. Here we share some clever ways we recommend to connect.
Professor Stephen Hawking, who was considered by many to be the smartest person of his time, speaks out on one of humanity's greatest challenges at the moment. Physical inactivity is now the fourth leading cause of death in the world.