Have an Attitude of Gratitude
How counting your blessings and regular chiropractic care can help you manage stress better.
As we approach Thanksgiving, there’s no better time to start a gratitude journal than now.
Creating a gratitude journal and writing down 5 things in the morning and 5 things in the evening that you are grateful for can be a quick and easy way to help de-stress and shift your focus from negativity to positivity. Let’s face it, unexpected events are bound to happen, and sometimes those events are less than pleasant. The ability to find good in all situations and to see the silver lining is not necessarily something that comes naturally for most people, but luckily it is a skill than can be learned and mastered.
When you are in the habit of counting your blessings and are focusing on what is going right even during situations that seem to be going wrong, you’re building up what I like to call gratitude reserves. Those gratitude reserves can come in handy when it’s hard to see the silver lining or when negativity seems to be overwhelming. Your gratitude list can be as simples as 5 basic statements such as:
I am grateful for:
1. coffee
2. water
3. shelter
4. my family
5. my health
But as you continue this process, I bet your gratitude statements will take a more complex shift. Not only will you be grateful for coffee, but for warm coffee that takes the chill out of the beautiful November morning as you walk to the bus stop……or maybe that’s just me! And maybe you’ll see a shift from being thankful for things to being thankful for moments, people, and experiences.
Similarly to how writing out what you’re thankful for can help you build up those gratitude reserves, being adjusted regularly can help your body handle and deal with the stressors of life more efficiently and effectively. I like to say that regular chiropractic care can help you build up stress response reserves. Our bodies and our nervous system were made to deal with stressors, but we were also made to come back from those stressors to a more calm and relaxed state once that stressor has passed. If we are faced with an event which makes us anxious, we get sweaty palms, our heart starts to race, our pupils dilate, and internally cortisol and epinephrine are secreted. These are all things that should happen if we are in a stressful situation.
However, what happens most often now in our busy hustle and bustle days is that we get stuck in this stress response, never able to come back to a calm and relaxed state. Did you know that people under regular chiropractic care have been shown to adapt to stressors better and have more of an internal stress response reserve? This has been shown in heart rate variability (HRV) research conducted by the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation. HRV studies have looked at the fluctuations in heart rate and have correlated those fluctuations to a greater adaptability to stress from internal and external environments. The research found that those under regular chiropractic care had improvements in their HRV and had better internal stress response reserves! You can check out more information about it here.
So my challenge for you is to start a gratitude journal if you don’t already have one. See what a difference it can make in your attitude. My other challenge for you is to stay under regular chiropractic care. See what a difference it can make in your health!
As always, I’m grateful to be a part of your health and wellness journey.
~ Dr. Shannon