Five Health Tips for Modern Living

Even though we’re not being chased by saber tooth tigers in our modern age, we may be more stressed than our cave-dwelling ancestors.  According to Michael Brightwood, Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST®), who teaches The Ranch class, Promote Health, Reduce Stress and Eliminate Pain – Health Tips for Modern Living, our ancestors had lots of downtime. Only occasionally did they need to use their built-in fight or flight stress response. Unfortunately for us modern folks, our stress responses can be triggered more than a few times a day by seemingly mundane activities like driving to work, taking care of errands, working, and trying to keep up with everyday life.

In addition to the impact stress has on our modern lives, we also live with the issue of environmental toxins.  Michael says that everything from the air we breathe to the food we eat, to wireless networks, affects our health.  Although there is no way to completely remove ourselves from these toxic circumstances, there is much we can do to protect ourselves and improve our well-being.

5 Health Tips for Modern Living

1. Take deep breaths to reduce stress. If you want to combat stress, the best thing you can do to reduce it quickly is to take deep belly breaths. Breathe in through your nose and let your belly fill up and stick out, then release the breath through your nose or mouth and feel your stomach pull in. The magic of deep breaths is that they lower our heart rate, calm us down, and reduce the stress hormone cortisol.
2. Take a digital detox. Michael suggests that being surrounded by wireless networks, computers, and cell phones can damage the body.  We are constantly surrounded by EMF (electromagnetic fields) which is essentially radiation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Scientific studies have not clearly shown whether exposure to EMF increases cancer risk. Scientists continue to conduct research on the issue.”  However, many people have attested to feeling some sort of energy when talking on their cell phones for long periods of time. Michael suggests taking a digital detox for at least two days each month and one week out of every season.  He also recommends turning your home wireless network off every night and having no TV in your bedroom. Michael states, “Sleep is an excellent way to take a break from WiFi and EMFs.”
3. Drink fresh water. We’ve heard this all our lives, but how many of us actually do it?  Michael recommends knowing what is in your drinking water and making sure it’s filtered or comes from a reputable source.  Fresh water flushes out the system regularly. Michael encourages drinking enough water so that you pee every hour.
4. Keep your body alkaline. Your system should be just into alkaline at 7.3 or 7.45 (testing can be done by dipping litmus paper in your saliva or urine first thing in the morning).  A time-tested way to trigger the alkaline response in your body is to start your morning off with a hot cup of water mixed with the juice of half a lemon.
5. Exercise, exercise, exercise. There are numerous benefits to daily aerobic workouts. They reduce stress, help keep our bodies in shape, and promote human growth hormones to name a few.  Michael suggests that sweating also helps rid our body of toxins.  There’s no way to get around it. Daily exercise is a must for good health.

Interested in learning more about achieving a marvelous balance of mind, body, and spirit?  Join us for a week at our 3,000-acre health and fitness resort in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico—about an hour’s drive from San Diego, all with transportation provided. Make your reservation or request more information by calling 800-443-7565, or use our convenient online reservation form by clicking below.