Chiropractic adjustments can indeed help you with focus and concentration.
Wait? Improved focus and concentration? From simply a chiropractic adjustment? How is that possible?
This is what most people wonder when we talk about mental improvements for people under chiropractic care. There are legitimate reasons why people see improvements in their focus when they are regularly getting adjusted.
First, a decrease in pain and discomfort is a big contributor in improved concentration and focus. This may seem obvious, but many people deal with chronic symptoms that they never associate with their difficulty focusing.
Many people don’t realize how much their pain and discomfort are distracting them.
Ever try to work with a headache? A really bad headache. How productive are you? How about low back pain from sitting in that same chair week after week? Pain is a huge distraction, whether at home or at work, and chiropractic can help alleviate those symptoms.
The second is stress. Stress isn’t only in your head. It’s in your body, your muscles, your organs. When we are under chronic stress our bodies are often in the fight or flight response. This response does many things to our physiology, but one of the biggest things is that it down-regulates our ability to focus and problem solve.
In the short term, this makes sense. If you are being chased by a predator, you don’t need to be thinking about math problems, high-level work issues, or all the forms that need to be filled out for your kids’ latest activity. Your nervous system down-regulates higher levels of thinking in the prefrontal cortex. This is a good thing in the short term, but a bad thing in the long term.
If you are stressed out and working frantically to try and hit a deadline or get ready for the next presentation, you have naturally lost the ability to focus and problem solve because you are stressed out. Your prefrontal cortex is offline and your survival response is front and center.
Chiropractic adjustments are known to reset the nervous system out of fight and flight into rest, repair, and concentrate! That is why many patients report better focus and concentration when under regular chiropractic care. Taking care of the subluxations in your spine is beneficial for your entire nervous system.
Wellness Roadmap to Better Focus
- Good Sleep! Sleep is absolutely necessary for optimal focus and concentration. See our article on how good chiropractic care can help you get a better night’s sleep.
- Decrease Stress. We’ve already discussed why when we are under stress, we can’t focus as well and we can’t problem-solve. The question remains: how do you decrease stress in your life? Exercise, chiropractic adjustments, deep breathing, meditation, and hydration are all things you can do to decrease stress and keep your body out of the fight or flight stress response.
At WellSpine KC, we are committed to your wellness, both mind, and body. Our goal is to help your body be in a better state to properly manage life stressors without getting stuck in the stress response of the sympathetic nervous system. Life stressors such as busy schedules, family problems, and even the trauma of difficult life events are inevitable. Taking good care of your body in the midst of daily stressors can help it deal with natural stress responses more effectively. With good chiropractic care, your body can return to a parasympathetic state of rest and repair instead of being stuck in the stress response cycle.
- Have a Positive Mind-Set. Having a positive mindset is hugely important for better energy and concentration. It sets the tone for problem-solving, better energy, and unique solutions. Finding things to be grateful for and recognizing what things are going right, rather than focusing on all that’s going wrong, will help mental energy. Maintaining a positive mindset creates changes in your brain that open up your thinking to recognize solutions, see new opportunities, and to problem-solve effectively. And the result of all this is better focus and better outcomes to your endeavors. Foster a more positive mindset and you can ensure that expanded thinking and focus will result.
At WellSpine KC, it is our mission to help our clients achieve whole-body wellness. It would be our pleasure to work with you to help you increase your focus by fostering the health that your mind and body need to work at their optimal potential. Call us today and get started on your journey to better focus and brainpower with chiropractic care.
