Everything Affects Everything --

 

More and more, the health fields are acknowledging the interrelationship of

areas of health and human function that previously were thought to be

unrelated. In the field of psychology, researchers are finding that

depression weakens bones, anxiety about eating can affect the menstrual

cycle and stress can affect fertility. Whether these findings are actually

true or not, they still underscore the fact that everything affects

everything. We cannot be unhealthy mentally or emotionally and expect to be

healthy physically. Conversely, we should expect our physical health to

affect our emotional and mental well-being.

 

In a similar manner, we cannot expect what we put into our bodies in the

form of medication to only affect one specific part. The entire body is

affected by any drug that we take, regardless of its intended purpose.

Those chemicals placed in the body in the form of caffeine and alcohol also

affect our entire body. While everyone may not have experienced the

wide-awake-in-the-middle-of-the-night, heart-racing effects of caffeine, we

have all seen the numbness of thought and loss of reflexes and coordination

brought on by too much alcohol.

 

There is an up side to all this. All those good things that we do to and

for our bodies also affect us in every way. When school children eat a good

balanced breakfast, it not only helps make their bodies stronger, it enables

them to do better in their class work. When you exercise regularly, you are

helping to improve the digestion, absorption, metabolism and utilization of

the food that you eat. Exercise helps your respiratory system and your

cardiovascular system but it also helps you to get the most from your sleep,

which in turn affects your ability to handle stress which affects your

cardiovascular system and digestion. Are you beginning to see the point?

Nothing done to or for the body occurs in a void - anything relates to

everything.

 

This principle is nowhere more obvious than in Chiropractic care. When a

person undertakes Chiropractic care, for whatever reason, the adjustments

have a profound and far-reaching effect upon the entire body. When the

Chiropractor corrects a subluxation, the entire body is improved. Every

system in the body functions at a higher level. The body has a greater

potential to heal itself and resistance increases. Every aspect of one's

life is better because of one little adjustment. How much better is the

question. Frankly, we do not know. These things are not measurable.

Granted, in some people drastic changes are noted. People's bodies heal

themselves where before they could not. Athletes show marked improvement in

performance, children do better in school. But the major improvements are

going to be imperceptible at the time, like eating an apple. You do not see

the immediate effects of eating the apple but you know that the body is

better for it. We may not see the immediate results of an adjustment but we

know that chiropractic adjustments add to our health and for that reason we

should be receiving them on a regular basis.