Education

We’re being teased by spring here in Vancouver. One day, it’s beautiful and sunny and you feel like you’re on top of the world. The next, it feels cold and grey and like winter is never coming to an end.

Personally, I’ve found my energy levels to be waning over the past few months. The time change seems to have had a bigger impact on me, and waking up early just hasn’t been in the cards.

I need at least 7 hours of sleep to be rested, and for the most part I sleep well, but I know that I’m lucky for it. Many people have trouble getting the rest that they need, whether it’s due to a lack of sleep because of a busy lifestyle, insomnia or the quality of their sleep is poor. Sleep plays a big part in managing stress and preventing disease.

Here are some tips to help improve the quality of your sleep and increase your energy levels.

• Having a relaxing salt bath with a few drops of lavender oil in the evening before bed time. Epsom salts help to produce serotonin levels which improves sleep function while lavender helps to induce sleep and relax the nervous system. The key is to not make your bath too hot, otherwise it becomes stimulating rather than relaxing.
• Give yourself a foot massage. I can attest to the benefits of this! By giving yourself a foot massage, you’re triggering reflex points that relate to the entire body. This can help you to have a much deeper sleep.
• Get plenty of exercise. Although exercise requires energy, it ultimately improves your energy levels and reduces stress and tension in the body.
• Infrared Sauna. A 25 minute session in the infrared sauna helps to deeply relax your muscles and tissues by dramatically increasing circulation and excretion of toxins. While you’ll initially feel quite relaxed post sauna session- you’ll get a burst of energy within a few hours. The infrared sauna has been shown to speed up metabolic rates within the session.
• Massage Therapy and Acupuncture. By releasing built up tension and pain in the muscles, massage therapy and acupuncture can relieve strains that can be draining you of your energy. We all know how much pain and discomfort can take the wind out of our sales. Regular treatments to maintain optimal health is a great way to restore energy or simply prevent burnout and fatigue.
• Thinking too much? Try journaling. If you’ve got a lot on your mind and you can’t stop the chatter in your head, get it out on paper. I think a good rule is to make yourself write three full pages of whatever is on your mind. If you commit to the full three pages, you may find yourself wanting for things to write about, but I find this commitment ensures that you get everything out, and often that last page can lead to some insight that was being suffocated by other thoughts that were simply repeating themselves in your head.
• Supplements. Are you getting your all the nutrients you need from your diet? Most likely, you aren’t. It can be extremely challenging to make sure that we’re getting optimal amounts of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids every day from our diet. These elements are key to feeling energized and boosting your bodies immunity and ability to heal from free-radical assaults. A favorite of mine is the GliSODin Advanced Daily Formula which contains superoxide dismutase. It’s a big word- for a very big and powerful anti-oxidant enzyme. This ingredient is like a terminator for free radicals in our system- it just keeps going and going!

Those are just some tidbits for things that I like to do to help with energy and sleep. Do you have any tips to share about improving your energy or quality of sleep?

I’m a little late getting back to my blog- the Holidays and the New Year have flown by and I find myself struggling to get back into routines. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

The Holidays impose a total shift in lifestyle that throws most people off- mainly in the areas of excess. ie: lots of drinking, eating and not so much exercise.  To make matters worse, if one dares not to take part, the scrooge moniker is rapidly applied.

Then we have the New Year welcoming us after all of our Holiday extremes. Back to reality- or perhaps an unrealistic version of reality for some- I’m speaking of New Years resolutions of course!  Weight loss, not drinking, not eating sugar, running a marathon- these are all common resolutions that people set for themselves. I wonder if peoples’ zeal for the fresh start of the year sets them up for failure.

This in turn, creates the ‘anti-resolutioners’. People that see no point in resolutions because they’re never really actualized.

It makes me sad to think that because people set unattainable goals, they give up on improving themselves all together.

I personally love the New Year. I feel like it’s an opportunity to reflect on what worked for me in the year before  and what I’d like to see come to fruition in the year ahead.

When it comes to more long-term lifestyle changes, I’ve learned that I need to make a commitment to whatever it may be, create a plan and stick to it.

This year, my goal is to use my extended benefits- chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy, to their fullest. In 2009, I used a fraction of my benefits. Why? My only excuse is that I didn’t prioritize it. So my goal is to book regular, repeat treatments, so that I get into a routine and it becomes second nature.

I think the same can be said of any goal you may have- enlisting the help of a professional who can steer you in the right direction and keep you accountable is going to set you up for success.

I’m resolved to be realistic about my goals. It makes life a lot more fun and I can actually accomplish something.

Do you have any health-related goals for 2010? What’s your plan to get there?

Our resident Acupuncturist and doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Mahsa Ahmadi had a great feature in Vitamin V for Cosmetic Acupuncture. Click here to read more. Mahsa is now offering cupping with her practice here at Spruce Body Lab. So if you want to bring your health regimen to another level and join the ranks of Gwyneth Paltrow and Britney Spears (both have been seen sporting cupping induced circles on their bared backs…) , go to our acupuncture page and learn more about this ancient therapy.

Personal Experience

I recently came down with a cold that I thought that I had beat, but has subsequently been beating me; I’ve gradually felt worse each day.  I’m not one to take a cold lying down, so I thought I’d try some acupuncture and cupping to see if it could help.

I have to admit that I was a little concerned about the cupping. Would it be really hot? Would I have frightening bruises all over my back? My fears were soon laid to rest as the cups were applied to my back like little suction vacuums and moved along my spine. The first application of the cups didn’t feel warm, the second felt a little more intense, both in temperature and the intensity of the suction action.  I didn’t have any discomfort, in fact, it felt good. I would liken it to the feeling of fascial work with massage therapy.

As an unfortunate side effect of sneezing in the midst of this cold, I had tweaked my neck and shoulder, which happens to me, off an on. I usually seek out massage therapy to treat this when it happens, The cupping really helped and I didn’t feel any more aches and pains in my shoulder afterwards.

During my acupuncture treatment, Dr. Ahmadi placed two needles on either side of my nostrils to help relieve congestion in my sinuses. It helped considerably, and while I still have my cold, I’ve been breathing through my nose quite comfortably since my treatment.

My concern with the bruising that arises from cupping did come to fruition. I was a bit startled when I noticed the circular patches of burst blood vessels. Most of them were faint, but I had one that was more defined and noticeable.  After I saw them once, I forgot about them, as they didn’t cause me any discomfort. The verdict: I’m not going to be doing cupping during bikini season, but it’s still on my list of remedies for pain relief.

Overall, I’m ecstatic that I can turn to acupuncture and cupping to boost my body’s ability to heal and recover and hopefully this cold has seen it’s last days!

Did you know that acupuncture (from Latin: acus “needle” and pungere “prick”) has been practiced as early as the Stone Age with sharpened stones? It’s hard to imagine that anyone volunteered for that!

Today we’re fortunate enough to not only have the benefit of super-fine needles that you barely feel being placed on the skin- but we can get a face lift out of it too!

I’ve experienced this treatment once myself and, let’s face it, needles are not something that most people look forward to. But once I got over the thought of the needles and actually had a treatment, I was pleasantly suprised by the results.

One thing that really stood out for me with this treatment was how relaxed and softened my face looked and felt.  It’s amazing how much tension we hold in our face through repetitive expression and the general stress of everyday life.  For me, this stress shows up in the form of a dull complexion and the deepening of the laugh lines around my mouth.  I’ve also been noticing fine lines popping up in between my brows from frowning.  Cosmetic Acupuncture can address all of these concerns and more.

I know I’m not alone in seeking out ways to prevent these signs of aging without having to inject botox or spends thousands of dollars on laser treatments.  However, the reality is that if you are looking for a more natural approach, it takes a commitment to frequent treatments which can be a hard to fit into a busy lifestyle. A recommended course of treatments for Cosmetic Acupuncture is 12 sessions with regular follow up treatments to maintain results.  The positive spin to this possible negative, is that there are little to no side effects and a slew of side benefits to this ancient practice.

I would love to hear feed back from anyone who’s benefited from Cosmetic Acupuncture.  Please post your comments!