People tend to soak up more sun in summer, but that doesn’t always mean they’re getting enough vitamin D. Everyone is different, and we all have a number of factors in our lives that affect our ability to produce vitamin D, including things like where we live, what our skin tone is, and how old we are. Our skin doesn’t always reliably convert the sun’s rays into vitamin D, especially if we’re trying to be sun-safe and we cover up with clothing and sunscreen. So, it’s important to keep taking a high-quality vitamin D3 supplement, even in the summer!
Community News
How’s Your Sleep Posture?
You spend nearly 1/3 of our lifetime sleeping, making your sleep posture extremely important to your daily wellbeing. Ideally, your head should remain in a neutral position. When side sleeping, if the pillow is too thick or thin, the neck becomes side flexed with one side being compressed while the other side is stretched; this can lead to compressed nerves. “Head forward posture” which is a jutting forward of the chin, is becoming more prominent with increased cell phone usage. Add to that a back sleeper with more than one pillow, the neck muscles are in a constant state of contraction trying to return to their normal length. Being pro-active could save you from a real “pain in the neck” later.
Meet Your Practitioner
Barbara Balshaw-Dow is a clinical social worker/therapist who received her Master of Social Work in 2007 and has been practicing since 2015. She has a passion for highlighting mental wellness and works with clients who are experiencing anxiety, depression, or trauma, as well as other life challenges. She helps her clients develop strategies to do things differently and move forward by using tools such as: solution-focused questions, strategies from cognitive behavioural therapy, and basic eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. Barbara is also a registered yoga teacher and is working towards certification in equine-assisted counselling.
Living Without Regret
Holding onto regret is like dragging around the weight of the past wherever you go. It drains our energy and makes us less available for living life tin the present because we are constantly looking behind us to the past. When we continue to feed this endless pattern, it weighs us down. When we can choose to move into applying what we have learned instead of becoming stuck, we transfer our energy into something constructive and creative that gives us back our life force and sets us free. Regret when released becomes a learning that allows us to grow.
A Powerful Wellness Combo
A holistic approach to whole-body health is made up of interdependent parts – body, mind, and soul. If one of these parts is not working properly, all the other parts are affected. If you have imbalances (physical, emotional, or spiritual) in your life, it can negatively affect your overall health. Holistic healing involves multiple complementary medicines and alternative healthcare practices that can overlap with modern-day Western medicine. During a unique Nutri-Aroma consultation, which combines nutrition, aromatherapy, and Reiki, you learn how to achieve the best results for healthier living in the shortest amount of time.
Balance Your Hormones Naturally
What does hormonal imbalance look like? Hot flashes, night sweats, bloating, irritability, brain fog, irregular cycle, and fatigue are just some of the symptoms. If you suffer from any of these symptoms and haven’t been able to find relief, why not try balancing your hormones naturally. Biofeedback testing and treatment help to detect imbalances and stimulate hormone-producing organs to balance the body. Another effective option is to get your body tested to see if it is lacking specific hormone-related nutrients. If you are, natural nutritional formulations can be taken to correct the hormonal imbalance and relieve your symptoms.
Acupuncture for Post-Partum Depression
Post-partum depression involves depressive symptoms or episodes after giving birth, affecting up to 30% of new mothers. The rates of suicide linked to post-partum depression continue to increase, so it’s important to address any symptoms of the condition as soon as they become apparent. Along with psychological intervention, acupuncture may help with the symptoms of post-partum depression, and some studies have shown that this combination can be as useful as certain anti-depressants. It’s thought that acupuncture helps to stimulate the nervous and immune systems and balance various neurotransmitters, reducing the brain’s reaction to stress and therefore the depressive state.
What’s Your Path to Wellness?
Most of us face health challenges at some point in our lives. As we experience these challenges, we strive to return to wellness but often get overwhelmed with health options or frustrated with advice and approaches that simply don’t work. An Integrative Health Coach helps to sift through wellness options to guide you to the most meaningful health strategies that make sense to you. As your Integrative Health Coach, I draw on a wide knowledge base of diverse healing practices to find the most helpful options that align with your goals and life experiences. What’s your path to wellness?
Transitioning to Dentures
Are you missing some of your natural teeth? Do you feel as though you may require extractions sooner rather than later? When going from natural teeth to a denture, the transition doesn’t have to be difficult. We provide options for optimal healing, improved esthetics, and ideal function. A denture can be fabricated prior to extractions and placed in your mouth immediately following the removal of your teeth. This is a very popular option for patients as it means you don’t need to go without teeth at any point. Some patients prefer to let their gums heal prior to their dentures being made. Ask your denturist! Your new smile is only a few steps away.
Trusting Myself Fully
I invite you to take out a pen and paper and complete this sentence with your dominant hand: “If I trusted myself completely, I would do/say or make happen” ……? Then with your non-dominant hand respond: “What holds me back from fully trusting” ….? When we struggle to create or share what we truly want, it’s often because there is a missing part of ourselves lost, frozen or trapped in time. When we seek validation from those outside ourselves over the wisdom that resides within us, this leads towards 2 big compromises: 1) Seeking and chasing the need for constant approval (anxious attachment) or 2) avoiding and rejecting what we desire, so we don’t feel the disappointment and rejection (avoidant attachment). Relationships are a shared energy, the more we trust our gut knowing, the better we can trust, share and receive what we truly desire.
Strengthen Your Immune System
As we age, our immune response capability reduces, which can lead to potential infection and disease. Since our body uses food to extract nutrients that prevent disease, it’s important that our diets contain nutrient-rich foods for an overall stronger immune system. Antioxidant-rich foods help fight against free radicals that can cause damage to the body, whereas sugary foods generate an inflammatory response within the body, causing health issues and lowering the immune system. Foods high in antioxidants include berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, goji berries), red cabbage, beans, dark chocolate, pecans, spinach, carrots, and potatoes.
