The Five Factors of Health and High Performance

By Dr. Courtney Tippetts and Dr. Ruston Tippetts of Topsail Chiropractic 

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Our health is one of our greatest assets and the most worthwhile investment. Everyone wants to feel their best, regardless of what stage in life we find ourselves. Here are the five factors of health and high performance that will have the biggest impact!

1. Food

We’ve all heard the saying “You are what you eat!” Well, in a way, that’s true. Our bodies are constantly breaking down and rebuilding cells. In fact, your body makes approximately 3.8 million cells per second! Where does your body get the resources necessary for this? You guessed it: from your food. Food is fuel. Think of the quality of building blocks and materials you want your body to use to build new cells.

2. Sleep

Sleep is critical for your body to function the way that it should.  This is when your body recovers and balances all the different systems that workday in and day out. In our modern day and age of technology, many people don’t realize that they are harming the quality of their sleep, even if they think the quantity is sufficient.  Sleep directly impacts your body’s ability to recover, balance hormones, reset your immune system, and more. It cannot be overstated how important quality sleep really is. 

3. Exercise and Physical Activity

The average person gets nowhere near the amount of movement during the day that we really should. According to statistics, only 1/4 adults and 1/5 adolescents are getting the minimum amount of physical activity per week that is recommended. Getting a blend of stretching, mobility, cardiovascular, and resistance training is the ideal scenario. This helps us avoid pain, slows the aging process, helps prevent metabolic issues like diabetes, and can even improve hormonal and brain function! 

4. Mental Health

While some people may not realize it, your overall mental state and health directly affect your physical health as well. Cortisol is a hormone your body makes naturally that tells your cells to break down. If you experience uncontrolled stress or a lack of gratitude, positivity and happiness, your body overproduces this hormone leading to increased infections, higher blood pressure, and decreased recovery. This is why a positive mental attitude is so important! 

5. A Sound Nervous System 

Your brain controls everything in your body. It does this by sending signals down the spinal cord and through individual nerves. Through day-to-day activities, or injuries, vertebrae can cause pressure or inflammation to these nerves.  When this happens, the signals from your brain to those organs, or the information trying to get back to the brain from downstream, can be affected. Chiropractic care is about much more than just neck or back pain. It is all about these signals to and from the brain. Adjustments to the spine ensure that the spine is not impacting on the nervous system negatively. That’s why chiropractic care can improve sleep, digestion, energy levels, athletic or work performance, and more!