Dear Friends of Roscoe Chiropractic,
Happy Thanksgiving! I will not be sending an email next Thursday (I know, sad, right?) so I will wish everyone a wonderful holiday this week. :) I have some somber news - It turns out Michelle, the new massage therapist, is unable to stay with us. We were all really excited to have her here, but sometimes details just can't be worked out. So I'm really sorry to say that we are once again, massage therapist-less. Dr. Chris is always keeping his eyes open for someone else to come in that will hopefully work out for the long term, but in the meantime please accept our apology for the lapse. On the upside, we are still running our FANTASTIC special for new patients. Macaroni Madness has been a success thus far, so keep on telling your friends and lets get a monster amount of macaroni to take to the food pantry at the end of the month!
Ok ok, I don't want to claim any season as being owned by a sickness (aka "flu season") but the information I have for you today might open some eyes as to why the flu likes to pop up its ugly head at this time of year. Ok, I am going to share potentially shocking news with you, I have NEVER had a flu shot. I have not gotten the flu since I can remember. So while we are generally encouraged to get immunized, it's not always necessary. There are some natural ways to boost your immune system but first lets learn a little about it. Studies have shown that Vitamin D is an important modulator of immune function. So we all agree that influenza seems to hit in colder months; what is a possible reason for this? The most readily available source of vitamin D is sunlight. In colder months we are getting less sunlight for several reasons: it's too cold to stay outside long, our normal daylight hours are shortened, and when we are outside we are so bundled up that the sun doesn't even see our skin. So this results in a reduction of blood levels of vitamin D which in turn affects the immune systems function.
So the obvious answer to this is to take a supplement for vitamin D during the winter months. Dr. Chris offers Standard Process products which are whole food supplements and thus are far better for you than most of what you find in the pharmacy. Vitamin D's affect on immunity is as follows: Vitamin D in a cell stimulates the expression of potent antimicrobial peptides (huh?) - Antimicrobial is something that prevents the growth of bacteria or viruses, so these little peptides help fight off illness. These peptides live in white blood cells and the epithelial cells that line the respiratory tract (your lungs and bronchial tubes). So as you can see, if the germ fighting peptides are encouraged by the boost of vitamin D they help to keep the flu out of your lungs and respiratory system, which is a very good thing. :)
Vitamin D does so much more for your immune system. If you're interested in reading the rest of this article it's in the October issue of To Your Health and we have it here in the office. Dr. Chris and I will be in next week, regular hours on Monday and Wednesday and shortened hours on Friday. So don't hesitate to call or stop in. Enjoy our fairly mild weather for this time of the year (hey, no snow!) and remember to be thankful for all the good things in your life.
Take care and be well.
Karla H.
Roscoe Chiropractic Centre
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