Revitalize Chiropractic Newsletter
Your Amazing Body
Summertime is a wonderful time to celebrate fun, freedom, and warm weather adventures – while learning about all the incredible things your body can do. From bike rides, soccer games, playground fun, hikes, and beach days – your body is built for adventure and exploration.
You’ve Got a Genius Inside You!
You experience life through your nervous system and your senses – watching a sunset, feeling the sun on your skin or the grass or sand beneath your toes – all of that is your brain and nervous system at work – feeling and perceiving life around you.
Then your brain interprets everything you see, taste, feel, touch, smell, hear, or sense – and categorizes them - as beautiful, warm, cool, safe, scary, fun, good, bad – and you develop memories, favorite things, and preferences based on what you feel in those experiences. Your brain is your control center – your Inner Genius – and we can make choices everyday to help our brain experience things it loves – like time outside, deep breaths, the colors and sounds of nature, the sun, play and movement, and time with the people we love.
Your brain and body also need rest after taking in all of your experiences from the day.
Did you know your body knows how to heal a scraped knee, cool you down when you're hot, and help you grow strong—all by itself? That’s your Inner Genius at work!
When you scrape your knee, the cells of your knee send messages to your brain that it needs some extra help – so the brain sends messages to the body – to slow down, to send extra healing cells to the injury (to begin to heal and then form a scab). Even pain is helpful because it helps you slow down to notice what you need to do – rest, ask for help, and take care of yourself.
Your brain is the control center for all of this – it’s your Inner Genius and it controls and coordinates how every other part of your body works together – your muscles, nerves, stomach, immune system – everything! Your brain sends messages to your body through your nervous system – and fast. But if something blocks the signal, like slouching or too much, too much screen time, or a subluxation in your spine, the messages don't travel as well. Some of the best ways to work with and grow your Inner Genius are to:
Learn to listen to your body and what it tells you. The more we take time to listen to the messages of the body – to slow down, pay attention, eat something healthy, sleep, or ask for help – the easier it is to stay healthy.
Thank your body and your brain for taking care of you each day – your heart beats for you, your lungs breath, and your muscles work and keep you moving all day, and even as you sleep.
Get adjusted. Adjustments help your brain and body communicate with each other.
Move, play, rest, drink plenty of water, spend time in nature, and eat healthy foods to fuel your summer adventures.
Great Adventures Take Time
You didn’t learn to ride your bike in one day, and your body doesn’t grow strong in just one day either. Healing and growth takes time. Summer is the perfect time to rest, play, and give your body the time it needs to heal, grow, and thrive. After a day of play or adventure, let your body rest. Sleep is when your Inner Genius works its healing and growing magic!
Whether you’re splashing in the pool or exploring your backyard jungle, your AMAZING body is your best travel buddy. Trust it. Feed it. Move it. Rest it. Listen to it. And most of all—have fun with it!
Mackenzie McNamara, DC
