IMAC’s 5 Tips to Support Your Mental Health
The battle to stop the coronavirus pandemic, fought with social distancing and enforced isolation, is taking a psychological toll. At IMAC, we specialize in non-surgical medical care for musculoskeletal conditions but also recognize the important role mental health plays on the body’s overall well-being.
These 5 tips are great reminders for living a healthy lifestyle, and they just happen to improve mental health!
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Physical Activity
At this time exercise maybe limited due to the “shelter in place” but many of you can certainly do exercises in your own home such as stretching, sit ups, push ups, walking around the house or neighborhood, tai chi, etc. Physical activity increases the level of endorphins, the “feel good” hormones, in your brain. Exercise is a key element to help with your mental state. It also increases your blood flow, which in turn increases the amount of oxygen and glucose your brain is receiving.
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Healthy Diet
Food is another form of medicine. You’ve heard the saying,” You are what you eat”. What you eat has a huge impact on your mood and to your immune system. We call the following foods “ brain boosters”. All of these food can have a positive impact on your mental health. My top 10 brain foods are spinach, eggs, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, salmon, berries, dark chocolate, avocados, broccoli, kale.
Yes, we said dark chocolate! One of our favorite chocolate factories is in Springfield, MO. Ozzie Smith IMAC Regeneration Centers in Southwest Missouri have told us great things about Askinosie Chocolate.
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Get More Sleep
Stress can impact your life in many ways, including negatively affecting the quality of your sleep. As a result, when you don’t sleep well, your body keeps pumping out those hormones the next day, you feel more stressed, the following night you find it harder to fall asleep and it may repeat again. A goods night’s sleep allows you the tackle the day’s “stress easier” according to the Sleep Disorders Center.
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Meditation Or Yoga Can Help
Meditation improves concentration and memory. A study published in the journal Neuroimage found that those of you who meditate have more cell density in the hippocampus (associated with memory) and frontal lobes (associated with forward planning and control of behavior). Both meditation and yoga may promote positive emotional health and relaxation of the mind.
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Get plenty of sun
Exposure to sunlight is thought to increase the brain’s release of a hormone called serotonin. It also triggers the production of vitamin D. Vitamin D is needed for the protection against inflammation, improves brain function among other benefits.
To read more about the impact COVID-19 may have on mental health, read this Wall Street Journal article.
Doctor’s Notes is a blog series written by IMAC Regeneration Centers‘ medical professionals. Dr. Jason Hui is a nationally published author and board certified clinical nutritionist.
IMAC Regeneration Centers combine life science advancements with traditional medical care for movement restricting diseases and conditions. IMAC’s outpatient medical clinics emphasize its focus around treating sports and orthopedic injuries without surgery or opioids.
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