5 Ways To Prevent Allergies

March 21, 2016 by Power of Positivity

As allergy season approaches quickly, you’ll need to start preparing by having the necessary things on hand to prevent them before they start. Many people wait until they actually have an allergy before they seek out treatments and remedies, often going for prescription drugs to offer a quick fix. However, keeping your system healthy and filled with important nutrients can go a long way in helping keep allergies at bay.

According to WebMD, 55% of Americans test positive to one or more allergens, meaning that the majority of us reach for tissues, allergy meds, and a whole lot of orange juice at some point during the year. To keep your immune system healthy enough to literally block allergens from affecting your body, we’ve gathered this list of important things to do to prevent allergies before they start. Let’s look at some of these ideas below.

Here are 5 ways to prevent allergies before they start:

1. Make sure you take enough Vitamin D

Many studies to date, with the inclusion of this one from the Indian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (IJAAI), have found that Vitamin D can help prevent allergies, and Dr. James Sublett, president of the American College of Asthma Allergy and Immunology, agrees. He recommends adding Vitamin D to your diet every day.

“There’s some evidence that vitamin D may play a role in some allergic disorders,” Sublett said. “Other than that, there’s not much evidence that vitamins make a difference [in allergy prevention and treatment].”

The study in the IJAAI discovered that Vitamin D supplements “emerged as a ray of hope” in allergic rhinitis.

2. Make regular exercise a part of your routine

This study out of Thailand found that people who ran for 30 minutes with an elevated heart rate had a 70 percent decrease in allergy symptoms like sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes and throat, and congestion.

Allergy experts suspect that this correlation exists because doing cardio can relax the inflammatory proteins inside nasal passages. If you don’t want to exercise outdoors due to the airborne allergens, you can always do workout videos at home or join a local gym.

3. Clean your space often

Nothing attracts allergens like a dirty household, so make sure to wipe down surfaces often with a natural cleaner, and if you have pets, make sure to clean the furniture as well. Try to clean up as you go rather than allot one day per week or month to cleaning – this way, the allergens won’t have as much of a chance to build up over time, and your space will be superbly clean each day!

4. Vacuum carpets regularly

This might seem obvious, but allergens love to hide in carpets, so vacuuming regularly can ensure that none of those pesky dust mites or other allergens will make a home in YOUR home. Having wood floors or another hard surface is ideal for keeping allergens away, but if you have carpet, just make sure to vaccuum at least once a week. Clean the baseboard area with an attachment also, as allergens can hide in those hard to reach places.

5. Wash sheets in hot water and use mattress covers

Dust mites love to make a home in your sheets, pillows, and mattresses, so make sure to clean these regularly. Many allergies begin right where you sleep, so wash your sheets and pillows in hot water at least once per week, especially during allergy season. Also, use a mattress cover to avoid direct contact with your mattress in case of dust mites. Even if you have sheets covering your mattress (most of us do, I assume), the dust mites can still find their way through the sheets and onto you. By having an extra layer between you and your mattress, you’ll further prevent contact with the dust mites.

In addition to those tips, also remember to stay hydrated, eat plenty of whole, fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, and keep stress levels low. Inflammation causes most any disease or ailment, including allergies, so by keeping inflammation out of your body, you can ensure that allergies stay away, as well.

11 Things You Need To Know About Loving A Highly Sensitive Person

March 21, 2016 by Power of Positivity

We have discussed the highly sensitive person many times before, but if this is your first time hearing the term, here is a quick summary for you.

Before the 1990s, heightened sensitivity in humans was not widely talked about, but in 1991, a psychologist named Dr. Elaine Aron began to study this trait more closely. Surprisingly, she discovered that 15-20% of the population carries the trait that classifies them as highly sensitive, which means they respond to external stimuli more noticeably than non-HSP’s. They simply have a different way of processing sensory information due to parts of their brain that regulate emotions being more responsive than the brains of their less sensitive counterparts.

Are you starting a relationship with a highly sensitive person? Is your parent, child, or sibling a highly senstive person? Then, here are some pointers to keep in mind about how to love and care for the empath in your life.

11 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LOVING A HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON

1. A highly sensitive person feels everything more deeply.

Highly sensitive people don’t know how to feel in any other way than right down to their soul – they get hurt easily, and wear their hearts on their sleeves. Everything seems intense for the highly sensitive souls among us, so if you get in a relationship with an empath, remember to pay attention to and honor their feelings. If you disregard them, you can be sure that this will make your sweetheart run in the opposite direction of your love.

2. A highly sensitive person needs lots of time to recharge in solitude.

Highly sensitive people are usually introverts, so that means they derive their energy from within themselves, not from external sources. They tend to avoid big crowds of people because it seems overwhelming and nerve-racking to them. HSP’s enjoy doing quiet activities, such as hiking in nature, drawing, writing, painting, or anything that allows them to express their creativity.

They easily pick up on other’s emotions and auras, meaning that their own energy can become drained or frazzled when bombarded with stimuli coming in from all directions. Solitude gives them a chance to align themselves once again and clear their energy of any negativity they may have picked up from others.

3. A highly sensitive person is highly intuitive to your emotions.

A sensitive person can automatically sense how you feel without you having to say a word. Loving a highly sensitive person means that your feelings will always be on display, because they can pick up on energy very easily. You can’t hide anything from an empath, so if you get in a relationship with one, make sure you feel comfortable with keeping your emotions in the spotlight at all times. This is a person with innate kindness, and they don’t take your feelings lightly.

4. A highly sensitive person doesn’t treat sex as just a game.

In order for an HSP to become interested in intimacy with a partner, he or she must feel completely comfortable with the person on a deep spiritual level. They might identify with the term sapiosexual, which means they find human intelligence to be the most attractive feature about a person.

They won’t consent to sex unless they feel a soul connection to another person. Sex is not taken lightly or seen as a game by highly sensitive people.

5. A highly sensitive person’s brain runs on overdrive, making them more prone to insomnia.

Their minds work on overdrive most of the day, so turning the lights out and laying their head down doesn’t do much good for a brain that doesn’t want to sleep. They might lie awake some nights just tossing and turning, contemplating life and all its mysteries.

Highly sensitive people often suffer from insomnia due to their overactive minds, and might sleep at odd hours of the day to make up for it. Most people know them as a night owl, because they seem to come alive at night.

6. A highly sensitive person can easily get overwhelmed in loud, crowded environments.

You will likely meet them in a quiet coffee shop or book store rather than at a bar or mall. They like places where they can hear their own thoughts and process stimuli slowly, which makes busy, loud establishments an infrequent stop for highly sensitive people.

If you date an empath, you’ll have to understand their desire to spend ample time in nature or at least in a quieter setting than most places today provide.

7. A highly sensitive person can’t change their disposition.

Oftentimes, people misunderstand the HSP because others think they just want attention, but high sensitivity is actually an inborn trait. They can’t help the fact that their brains are wired differently than others, but this makes them feel like an outcast much of the time, unfortunately.

If you date a highly sensitive person, don’t try to change them. Just love them for what they are, and try to understand and support them as best you can. They can seem more difficult to be in a relationship with, but their ability to love so deeply makes it totally worth it.

8. A highly sensitive person doesn’t like to get in fights.

Because they feel emotions so deeply, they don’t like to get into heated debates or arguments with people. They’d rather walk away from a confrontation, or at least talk things out rationally. Be patient if you need to talk things out with an empath. That’s because they must first collect their thoughts before they debate with you.

9. A highly sensitive person often feels misunderstood.

These types of people have been mislabeled and judged their whole lives for “being too sensitive.”

So if you do get into a relationship with one, don’t ever make them feel bad for their innate characteristics. Love them as they are, because they bring important gifts to the world, and they really are beautiful souls that should be cherished.

10. Highly sensitive people make the most loyal partners.

A highly sensitive person will never hurt you intentionally; they will give you their all in a relationship, and make you feel more adored and loved than you’ve ever felt before.

11. A highly sensitive person can offer great conversation.

They might seem quiet at first, but they have so much to say after they feel comfortable with you. They enjoy deep, meaningful conversations, so a relationship with them will never get boring because they always have a unique perspective to offer about the world around them, and the worlds within them, too.

12 Touching Stories That Show the True Soul of Animals

March 20, 2016 by Power of Positivity

Humans feel a special bond with our pets, and these touching stories prove that animals have souls, just like we do. The only proof you need that animals have souls might be in their soulful eyes as they stare at you for that doggie treat.

12 Touching Stories That Show the True Soul of Animals

Believe it or not, scientists think that animals have souls too. A study by researchers on fruit flies proves that they are able to make decisions that go beyond random movements or patterns of movement. Fruit flies were tethered to a string that was attached to a device measuring their pull effort and direction. The flies were kept in a round room with no visible light source or anything that indicated direction.

Researchers thought that the flies would either show a pattern of movement or would be totally random with their movements, but the flies didn’t do either. Their movements showed that they were choosing to test their environment in specific, measurable, and thoughtful ways.

The glib response to this research is that if flies have consciousness and free will, why are they such jerks? Of course, flies don’t know that humans don’t like being landed on. But this science brings up ethical questions of all sorts, which most vegetarians already have come to terms with. If animals have souls, how can we hurt any of them?

Other researchers list the mounting evidence of animal consciousness as follows; “Scrub jays exhibit all the objective attributes of episodic memory, evidence that monkeys sometimes know what they know, creative tool-making by crows, and recent interpretation of goal-directed behavior of rats as requiring simple non-reflexive consciousness.”

The researchers also cite these examples of other research on animal consciousness; “Apes have demonstrated increased ability to use gestures or keyboard symbols to make requests and answer questions; and parrots have refined their ability to use the imitation of human words to ask for things they want and answer moderately complex questions.”

There is no consciousness structural organ in our human bodies or brains, so humans aren’t necessarily the only free thinkers with a conscience, consciousness and soul. Beyond science, let’s look at 12 touching and inspiring stories that prove animals have souls.

1. Koko the Gorilla

Koko is a female gorilla who has been taught American Sign Language and who can use hand gestures to talk with her trainers. Koko loves the movie Tea With Mussolini but when the boy in the movie has to say farewell to his relatives, Koko turns away from the screen.

Koko makes the hand gestures for the words “frown, sad, cry, bad, trouble, mother” and “Koko love.” Does Koko have a soul? We certainly believe that she does.

2. Two guide dogs who helped their humans on 9/11

The PDSA (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals) in Britain awarded a Dickin Medal to guide dogs Salty and Roselle who successfully helped their humans to reach safety down 70 floors of stairs during the September 11th, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.

3. Christian the lion who remembered his human friends

Christian was a lion who was raised from a cub until he was a year old by an Australian family living in London with two brothers who were close in age. When the cub was too big for them to keep, he was turned over to an animal sanctuary in Africa.

The brothers returned to visit Christian a year later. The full grown lion, now the sole survivor of his pack, recognized the boys and greeted them with an outpouring of affection that has been viewed over 18 million times on YouTube.

4. Alex the African Grey parrot

Parrots speak, but few could know to have the perfect parting words before they die. Alex, the African Grey told his owner, Irene, “You be good. I love you” before he passed away.

5. Mila the Beluga whale

Yang Yun was diving without an oxygen tank in Mila the Beluga whale’s pool when her legs cramped and she was unable to surface. Yan Yun said “I began to choke and sank even lower and I thought that was it for me – I was dead. Until I felt this incredible force under me driving me to the surface.” Mila must have sensed what was happening and she helped the diver to reach the surface.

6. Oscar, the deathwatch cat

Over 100 deaths were attended by the adopted cat, Oscar, who roams the dementia care wing at a nursing home in Rhode Island. Oscar is able to sense that people are nearing the end of their lives and he goes to their room.

One patient’s family member remarked “Oscar brought a special serenity to the room. What’s more peaceful than a purring cat? What sound more beautiful to fill one’s ears when leaving this life?”

7. Kwibi the gorilla

Damian Aspinall raised the gorilla named Kwibi to the age of five years. At that time, he returned him to West Africa to be free. When Damian returned to Africa to find Kwibi, he was warned that the gorilla was hostile to people.

Damian called to Kwibi and not long after, Kwibi came to him, held him and gazed into his eyes with intensity. Damian says that Kwibi wouldn’t let him go and that “It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”

8. Grieving chimpanzees

When Dorothy, the chimpanzee died due to heart failure, her companion chimpanzees gathered on the other side of the fence to hold each other. They watched as Dorothy was buried by her caregivers and appeared to give each other comfort through touch.

9. Leo, the seeing-eye dog who helps a blind dog friend

Leo, the aging German shepherd, acts as a protective guide dog for the blind Spaniel, Ellie that her owner adopted. The dogs’ owner and shelter manager Jean Spencer says “I take them for walks in the park and Leo guides Ellie around. He is so protective and herds the more boisterous dogs away from her.”

10. Oi the Staffordshire bull terrier who saved her owner

Oi lept to protect her owner Patricia Adshead when men with machetes broke into her home and attacked her. Oi bit the attacker’s hand as he raised the knife over Patricia’s head to kill her.

11. Jenny and Shirley, reunited Asian elephants

After 25 years of separation after they were rescued from abuse at a circus, Jenny and Shirley the Asian elephants were brought back together. They were so overjoyed at seeing each other that Jenny bent the bars of her stall trying to get to Shirley. When the animals were able to touch each other in an open area they stayed together roaring and leaning on each other.

12. Killian the dog who helped stop child abuse

Killian the dog was usually friendly, but when she started becoming hostile toward the family’s female babysitter, they secretly recorded her abusing their 7-month old child. Thanks to Killian, the woman was arrested for child abuse.

5 Habits of Deeply Connected Couples

March 20, 2016 by Power of Positivity

Now that you’ve found your one true love, you want to ensure that you stay deeply connected and in love with your partner for as long as possible.

The Gottman Relationships Research Institute says that deep, intimate connections between couples are created ‘through hundreds of very ordinary, mundane moments in which they attempt to make emotional connections.’

These mundane moments are usually conversational in which one partner attempts to gain the attention of the other.

This research reinforces other studies by the Gottman Relationships Research Institute. Turning toward your partner when they ask for your attention is one of the fundamental keys to relationship success.

It makes a difference between demonstrating care for your spouse by giving them your attention versus disregarding them. Your partner’s internal emotional state is at stake when it’s your turn to listen.

Seven ThingsThat Deeply Connected Couples Do to Build Love and Trust in Their Relationships:

Building a strong relationship requires effort from both partners in a deeply connected and committed partnership. Here are some ways couples can build love, trust, and commitment in their relationship:

Communication: Good communication is vital to any relationship. It is crucial for couples to openly and honestly communicate their feelings, thoughts, and needs.
Quality time: Spending quality time together, whether it be going on a date, doing a hobby together, or simply just talking, can help strengthen the bond between partners.
Acts of kindness: Small acts of kindness and thoughtfulness can go a long way in making your partner feel loved and appreciated.
Trust-building activities: Engaging in activities that build trust, such as couples therapy, can help both partners feel more secure and connected.
Honesty and transparency: Honesty and transparency are essential building blocks of trust in any relationship. Being truthful and open with your partner can help them trust you more.
Shared goals and values: Having shared goals and values can bring a couple closer together and give them a sense of direction and purpose as a couple.
Emotional support: Offering emotional support and being there for each other in good times and bad is crucial for building a solid and committed relationship.

Couples can create a solid and fulfilling relationship that lasts by putting in the effort to build love, trust, and commitment.

5 Habits of Deeply Connected Couples

Now let’s examine five habits of couples who share a deep connection.

1. Continuously learning about the other person

No matter how long you’ve been together, you can never really know another person. There will always be memories that your partner has that you cannot know. But you can get to know your partner more by asking deep questions.

Here are a few questions to ask your partner to get to know them more deeply:

What was your first experience with the death of a pet or loved one?
What was the happiest/saddest/most frightening moment of your childhood?
Where would you be, and what would you do if you never met me?
Why do you believe what you believe?
Who has been the most important influence on your life?
What are your goals for this year, and how can I help you achieve them?
How can I be a better partner to you?

2. Sharing intimate knowledge of yourself

Invite your partner to learn about your personal and private aspects of yourself. Intimate knowledge shared with a partner can include ‘shared secrets, interpersonal rituals, bodily information, awareness of personal vulnerability and shared memory of embarrassing situations.’

Deeply connected partners have a shared language of endearment for each other or unique ways of touching each other that convey meaning or give pleasure to the other. Inside jokes, pet names, and playful teasing are ways that couples connect on an intimate level.

3. Positive interactions

Communication is a very important two-way street. In our article 5 Little Things That Will Improve Your Relationship, we mentioned two important parts of daily couple interaction – listening and play. Listening is a gift you give your partner when you are fully available to hear their words and the emotion behind it. Play is a choice that you make to have fun with your partner.

Both listening and play contribute to deeply connected couplehood. Imagine yourself not only being heard and understood on a meaningful level, but also having fun while interacting with your partner. You would feel happy, loved, and supported.

Active listening is a lost art. Rather than giving your partner half of your attention, face them and listen intently to what they are saying.

This is your beloved speaking to you. Please treat them with the compassion that you also deserve.

Deeply connected couples spread joy as often as possible to their partner. In a study of relationship health and longevity by the Gottman Relationships Research Institute, researchers found that using humor or affection during conflict was essential to the relationship’s health.

4. Shared philosophy

In our article 5 Signs You’re in a Spiritually Intimate Relationship, we discussed sharing the same outlook on life. You and your partner share a story about what is important to you.

When you tell others about your relationship, you talk about ideas, values, goals, and how you knew you were right for each other rather than your personality traits.

Deeply connected couples know that each person can change over their lifetimes. What rarely changes about a person are their deeply-held core beliefs.

Deeply connected couples share these beliefs, morals, and values, which enhances the depth of their relationship because they connect on a meaningful level.

5. Reinforced commitment

Trust is one of the most critical factors for deeply connected couples. Connected partners take every opportunity to demonstrate to their spouses that they will protect their feelings. This demonstration of trust deepens their commitment to each other.

Betrayal is not in the language of committed couples. Each partner protects the boundaries of the other person. By keeping their partner’s intimate details secret, they demonstrate trust in their partner.

Deeply connected couples see every interaction with another person as an opportunity to betray or protect their partner and always choose to protect their other half.

Trust is not always about monogamy. Deeply connected couples care for their partner’s heart by refraining from paying extra attention to someone their partner might see as a romantic rival.

12 of the Best Plants for Cleaner Indoor Air

March 20, 2016 by Power of Positivity

Before we lived in modern houses, we built shelters much more in sync with nature and reaped the benefits of breathing in fresh air each day. In modern times, the pollution in our air, along with the fact that we live away from nature for the most part, severely affects the quality of the air we breathe. Enter the benefits of keeping plants and investing in a whole home humidifier installation rochester ny. These solutions can significantly improve indoor air quality, bringing a touch of nature back into our homes.

Plants absorb air-polluting organic and inorganic chemicals and break them down into compounds that the plant can use for energy. In turn, we get to breathe in the clean air that the plants provide for us – all we have to do is make sure the plants receive enough water and sunlight for survival.

To prove to you the benefits of having indoor plants, a study as far back as 1772 showed that their green leaves can purify stagnant air that had low oxygen counts as a result of burning candles and owning pets. Additionally, plants have been studied for their ability to purify air for use by astronauts in space stations and future moon bases.

In a six month study comparing a room filled with plants and a room devoid of plants, the room without plants had a 50% higher level of airborne microbes and bacteria. Another benefit to having indoor plants is that they naturally provide humidity, which can help with sinus problems, asthma, and even anxiety.

Below, we’ll list some of the best plants you can have in your home to help purify the air.

12 of the Best Plants for Cleaner Indoor Air

Aloe Vera

In addition to its remarkable ability to relieve sunburn pain, aloe vera also purifies the air by releasing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide at night. It can also remove benzene from your home, which is found in paint and chemical cleaners.

Aloe vera doesn’t take much maintenance, needing very little water and sunlight to survive.

Peace Lily

This lily’s beautiful tall; white blooms will make you forget that it’s working in your house to improve your health. According to NASA, the plant is excellent for removing three of most common volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene. Peace lilies can also help reduce toluene and xylene in the air.

These are relatively easy house plants to care for. They don’t need much sun just the artificial light in your home and indirect sunlight from windows should be plenty.

They also will let you know when to water them by drooping their leaves slightly. These are poisonous, so avoid areas where pets or children can access them.

Bamboo Palm

The surface area of the leaves of palms extracts more carbon dioxide from the air as you breathe at night and returns oxygen to the room that they are in.

These plants also prefer moist soil with low light, away from a sunny window. The humidity given off by the moist soil of these and other houseplants can reduce mold and bacteria in the air, helping you to breathe easier and sleep better.

Lavender

While lavender is most widely known for its use as an essential oil, it can also be used for cleaning your air indoors. The aroma naturally calms the nerves and relaxes your brain, helping you to breathe more slowly and easily.

Spider Plant

Pollutants such as formaldehyde are found in homes from the resins and solvents in building materials. Prolonged exposure to formaldehyde can cause irritation of eyes, throat and lungs as well as respiratory disorders and allergies. One study found that spider plants are excellent for reducing the amount of formaldehyde in a living space.

Spider plants usually have variegated light green and white striped long leaves that fall in a fountain shape.

Hang these plants for the best display as they will also develop small baby growths that hang down from the parent plant. These babies can be sprouted in a jar of water and then planted.

Reducing an environmental pollutant that is out-gassed from foam insulation, particleboard, fabrics and various other man-made materials will improve the air quality in your home and your health.

Gerbera Daisy

Keeping gerbera daisies will also help clean VOCs from your indoor air. These daisies can remove benzene which can be out-gassed from your natural gas stove. It requires plenty of sunlight so find a south-facing window in your home.

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemums, also called mums, are effective at removing benzene, trichloroethylene, formaldehyde and ammonia from the air in your home.

These plants also like a good amount of sun and water. That health improvement alone is a great reason to keep them as a house plant. Mums come in a variety of colors and should be readily available at your local garden center.

Mums are annuals, meaning they usually bloom only once per year. Although the plant may continue to live longer than a year, it will not flower again.

Warneckei (Draceana Plant)

This plant doesn’t need much sunlight, making it the perfect indoor plant to have. It can remove harmful toxins in the environment while also providing oxygen to purify stagnant air.

Golden Pothos

Another wonderful plant for removing formaldehyde is a beautiful addition to any indoor setting with the beautifully cascading leaves from the vine. You might want to keep it in your garage, as car exhaust contains a lot of formaldehyde. (Bonus: Golden pothos, also known as devil’s ivy, does not need much sunlight and can do just fine even when kept in the dark.)

English Ivy

Pet owners will love this plant, as it efficiently filters formaldehyde aerosols and fecal particles from the indoor air. You can find many varieties of this plant, but beware, it is poisonous.

Plant care: Partial shade to bright light, but no direct sunlight. Robust plant which grows so well and easily that is considered a weed in some countries.

Chinese Evergreen

While this plant doesn’t need much sunlight, it does need regular doses of H2O, as it’s a tropical plant. Make sure to at least mist the ends with water if you notice them turning brown.

Just like the other plants on our list, Chinese Evergreen can remove a variety of toxins from the environment, so adding one or two around the house will help you breathe better in no time.

Elephant Ear

This plant works wonders at removing formaldehyde, especially at higher concentrations. Just keep them out of reach of young children as they are poisonous.

Final Thoughts on Indoor Plants

Each of these options make a great choice for your home. If you’re not so sure about the quality of natural light in a particular room then take note of the following:

South-facing rooms always have high light coming from its windows. The rooms facing north, east or west, on the other hand, offer low light. Place each plant in a room where there’s plenty of natural light and water it frequently so that its leaves will grow abundantly. Also, keep in mind that some also grow better in rooms with higher temperatures and humidity level.

So do you have any of these plants in your home already? Which ones will you consider adding? Share your thoughts and photos, if you have them, with us in the comments.

5 Signs Your Body Needs A Spinal Adjustment

March 19, 2016 by Power of Positivity

Your spine is critical to your overall health. So a spinal adjustment might be just what you need if you’ve been feeling aches and pains lately. People who take responsibility for their own health and well-being know that spinal care is another important part of their overall health.

When you have a well-adjusted spine and you also are active, your strong muscles help to keep your spine positioned in alignment. But if your spine is already out of alignment, and you are still active with your fitness, you may be doing more damage to your spine, and that can cause you more pain.

The mind-body connection is important for balance, coordination, spatial awareness, and athletic performance. The spine is home to all of your major nerve branches off of the spinal cord. Therefore, it acts as the internet of your body, sending and receiving messages from the body to the brain.

You may have already read our article, Top 10 Acupressure Points for Pain Relief, so you know how to take care of your own pain with subtle pressure. A chiropractor is going to do the same thing for you by helping to relieve pain with subtle movements of your body to produce a state of balance for the spine.

Your body will let you know when something is wrong, diseased, or in pain. With the feedback from your body, you can make better choices for your health. Having a spine that is unadjusted is like having a kink in a garden hose; the water just isn’t getting through.

In a study of chiropractic spinal adjustment and the effects that it has on the body’s functioning, researchers found that an adjustment that stimulated the sympathetic nervous system will ’cause a reduction in the skin blood flow which can be detected by measuring the skin surface temperature.’

This shows that a chiropractic adjustment is able to affect the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. ‘These results illustrate that the blood flow through the fingertips can be affected by specific adjustments to the spine, and, further, that the response varies, depending on the location of the adjustment.’

Dr. J. Anya Harris, founder of Crystalign Chiropractic in Asheville, NC, addresses spinal subluxation correction in a unique and profound way: “It’s important for Doctors to compassionately address body, mind and spirit for healing to occur on all levels and in all ways.”

Here are 5 Signs Your Body Needs a Spinal Adjustment:

1. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you have chronic aches and pains

You can see a primary care physician, an orthopedic specialist or a chiropractor for your back pain, but one study found that patients who saw chiropractors were more satisfied by the cost and quality of care that they had received than those patients who saw other doctors.

You may have read about natural painkillers in our article 15 Natural Remedies That Can Replace Painkillers. And if you are a frequent user of painkillers, it is definitely time to see a chiropractor for a spinal adjustment.

Check the soles of your shoes to see if you are wearing down the rubber unevenly. You may have one leg that is shorter than the other or you may be walking differently to compensate for a pain or injury to your leg, foot, ankle, hip or spine.

Continuing to move your body when it is out of alignment will only make the problem worse.

2. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you have a sudden sharp pain

An acute pain can stop you in your tracks during a workout. A shin splint or a sharp pain in your side indicates that something is not right with your body. A spinal adjustment can help balance your body so that tendons, ligaments, and muscles are able to move in their correct positioning.

3. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you have an active lifestyle

Physically fit people will benefit tremendously from a spinal adjustment. As we have already mentioned, when you have a spine that is correctly aligned and you then work to strengthen the muscles of your back, your spine stays properly where it should.

4. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you do repetitive motions through the day

Hobbies, work and household chores can all require you to move in the same way, over and over again for long periods of time. The same motions repeated without changing position can have negative affects on your joints and posture.

Sitting all day without multiple stretch breaks is not only uncomfortable, it is bad for your spine. Long periods of sitting can cause muscles in the spine and abdomen to weaken, which makes injuries more likely.

5. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you have frequent headaches

Headaches can be caused by many problems, including diet, medications and vascular difficulties but having a spine out of adjustment is another possible cause of your headaches. When the muscles of the neck, shoulders and upper back need an adjustment, it can cause tension and migraine headaches.

Dr. Harris commented that the most common physical symptoms from patients include: radiating pain, a need to always “pop” your neck and back, stiff range of motion, muscular weakness or spasms, pinpointed pain in the spine upon movement, loss of grip strength, sluggish digestion, brain fog, leg pain, intense menstrual cramps, numbness and tingling in hands or feet, pregnancy related pain, sinus trouble, and headaches can all be traced back to a spinal subluxation.

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5 Ways To Prevent Allergies

Here are 5 ways to prevent allergies before they start:

1. Make sure you take enough Vitamin D

2. Make regular exercise a part of your routine

3. Clean your space often

4. Vacuum carpets regularly

5. Wash sheets in hot water and use mattress covers

11 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LOVING A HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON

1. A highly sensitive person feels everything more deeply.

2. A highly sensitive person needs lots of time to recharge in solitude.

3. A highly sensitive person is highly intuitive to your emotions.

4. A highly sensitive person doesn’t treat sex as just a game.

5. A highly sensitive person’s brain runs on overdrive, making them more prone to insomnia.

6. A highly sensitive person can easily get overwhelmed in loud, crowded environments.

7. A highly sensitive person can’t change their disposition.

8. A highly sensitive person doesn’t like to get in fights.

9. A highly sensitive person often feels misunderstood.

10. Highly sensitive people make the most loyal partners.

11. A highly sensitive person can offer great conversation.

12 Touching Stories That Show the True Soul of Animals

1. Koko the Gorilla

2. Two guide dogs who helped their humans on 9/11

3. Christian the lion who remembered his human friends

4. Alex the African Grey parrot

5. Mila the Beluga whale

6. Oscar, the deathwatch cat

7. Kwibi the gorilla

8. Grieving chimpanzees

9. Leo, the seeing-eye dog who helps a blind dog friend

10. Oi the Staffordshire bull terrier who saved her owner

11. Jenny and Shirley, reunited Asian elephants

12. Killian the dog who helped stop child abuse

Seven ThingsThat Deeply Connected Couples Do to Build Love and Trust in Their Relationships:

5 Habits of Deeply Connected Couples

1. Continuously learning about the other person

2. Sharing intimate knowledge of yourself

3. Positive interactions

4. Shared philosophy

5. Reinforced commitment

12 of the Best Plants for Cleaner Indoor Air

Aloe Vera

Peace Lily

Bamboo Palm

Lavender

Spider Plant

Gerbera Daisy

Chrysanthemum

Warneckei (Draceana Plant)

Golden Pothos

English Ivy

Chinese Evergreen

Elephant Ear

Final Thoughts on Indoor Plants

Here are 5 Signs Your Body Needs a Spinal Adjustment:

1. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you have chronic aches and pains

2. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you have a sudden sharp pain

3. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you have an active lifestyle

4. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you do repetitive motions through the day

5. Your body needs a spinal adjustment if you have frequent headaches

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