(Wellness Montana) Happy new year! 2012 marks the beginning of many new things at our office. In the midst of these exciting changes, one thing remains the same: we are committed to improving and enhancing your health and well being!

This year, many people are adopting habits and patterns to ensure that 2012 is their best health year yet. To help with these goals (and to inspire those who have not yet made goals), we have assembled 10 tips to make a 2012 Wellness Plan. We’ll cover the first 5 this week and the last five next week.

When making a Wellness Plan, it is essential to establish a good foundation. In that foundation, consider:

1)    Start with your spine – The spine is the foundation of health and controls your body’s ability to function properly. Start the year off by getting a chiropractic checkup to ensure your spinal vertebrae are free of dysfunction (subluxations) and that all your bones are aligned properly. Studies have shown that regular chiropractic adjustments correct and prevent subluxations in the spine and generally improve a person’s overall health.

2)    Reduce your stress – The American lifestyle has become notoriously overworked. Many people are unable to say “no” to new obligations and find themselves stretched far too thin. Emotional stress is linked to myriad health issues including vertebral subluxation, heart disease, stroke, cancer, infertility, headaches, depression, and insomnia. Giving your schedule a hard reset may be the thing you need most in 2012. As you evaluate your schedule, think about implementing these changes:

• Sharing common duties – Find common duties you can share with other people and share the burden. Organize a school carpool to give yourself and other harried parents a break during the week. Consider hiring a babysitter for a night out or delegating household chores to a local teenager. Sharing the workload will make it more manageable for you and others.
• Wait 24 hours before committing to a new obligation – Give yourself time to really evaluate your available time. Considering your schedule will better enable you to say “yes” to what is healthy and “no” to what you cannot manage.
• Create a “No” script – For those of you who have a hard time saying “No,” make a “No” script. Having a “No” script in place will help you set good boundaries, especially toward those who are very pushy for your time. Explain that you are making 2012 a year to improve your health — and stick to it!

3)    Stop self-medicating – If you use over-the-counter painkillers on a regular basis or rely on substances such as nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol, take a hard look at how these things affect your life. Many times these substances only mask your body’s symptoms and do nothing to treat the underlying problem. Avoiding the problem sabotages your health and disrespects your body’s innate intelligence. Take a serious look at the substances in your life and consult your chiropractor to help you eliminate unhelpful substances. (Also, never discontinue prescription medication without consulting the doctor who prescribed it.)

4)    Prioritize Your Sleep – Lack of sleep has been linked to increased headaches, blood sugar fluctuations that mimic diabetes, increased psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety, and increased weight gain and aging. Though each person has a unique “body clock,” most people function best with eight or nine hours of sleep a night. Some need get their sleep in a single night while others supplement their night sleep with a nap. Whatever you do, give your body the rest it needs.

5)    Re-define good nutrition – Unwanted weight lurks in the junk food hiding in our cabinets and refrigerators. Get rid of all the high-fat and sugar-laden items in your pantry and replace them with healthy alternatives! Also make a list of your top five destructive eating patterns and create an “escape route.” By retraining yourself in your habits, you will find you retrain your food consumption entirely.

Stay tuned for the remaining five steps of the 2012 Wellness plan next week!

Question: What other habits or changes have you used in the past to implement a healthier lifestyle? How long did it take you to make the switch?