By Lauri Lee
Northside Economic Development Coalition
The beginning of a new year often stirs thoughts of creating a healthier lifestyle. If creating a new you is too much for you to tackle, then start small and choose just one health concern to turn around this year.
Attention to lifestyle medicine — making simple changes in diet, exercise and stress management — is achievable for most people to feel healthier and more energetic or avoid age-related health issues. To be successful, select a healthy change that addresses your need and fits your personality.
Stress seems to be at epidemic proportions these days. Since it can exacerbate just about any health condition you can think of, figuring out how to handle it better is something to consider. Stress is an internal response created by your perception and thoughts. It’s often the story you tell yourself about an event or circumstance that creates the emotional upset, racing heart rate, shallow breathing, surging adrenalin and other symptoms of the stress response.
Prolonged stress can lead to increased inflammation and a much higher risk of developing health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, autoimmune illnesses, some kinds of cancer, migraine headaches, depression and anxiety, diabetes, obesity and memory loss. Learning to address stress can have profound lifelong health benefits for many people.
- A chiropractor can help loosen muscle tension caused by stress and through spinal adjustment, restore the body to its natural balance.
- Meditation and mindfulness help reduce stress by bringing a quiet calm, clarity and inner strength needed to approach life. Emotional wellness can provide feelings of increased optimism and relaxed sense of being with less anxiety, worry, stress, fear and depression. It can also increase mental strength, memory retention, focus, better decision making, problem-solving and creative thinking.
- Yoga incorporates breathing exercises, meditation and poses designed to reduce stress and encourage relaxation. Practicing yoga is said to come with many benefits for both mental and physical health. Multiple studies have shown that it can decrease the secretion of cortisol, the primary stress hormone.
Northsiders will not have far to go, as there are plenty of exercise and fitness centers, salons and businesses offering yoga, stress management, and mindfulness instruction and more.
- Acupuncture: Body Harmony, David Dow Chiropractic & Acupuncture
- Chiropractic: David Dow Chiropractic & Acupuncture, Madison Chiropractic
- Exercise, Fitness and Personal Training: Anytime Fitness, Cherokee Fitness at Cherokee Country Club, Newfitu, Orthdx Natural Fitness, Warner Park Community Recreation Center exercise room, Wisconsin Martial Arts and Fitness Center Madison North
- Massage: Body Harmony, Serenity Salon & Day Spa
- Meditation instruction, mindfulness, guided meditation: Meditate Madison
- Reiki: Meditate Madison
- Yoga: Meditate Madison, Newfitu, Orthdx Natural Fitness