Family Wellness Center 801.298.4646

Troy Giles, D. C. 565 West 2600 South, Bountiful, UT 84010
(801) 298-4646   www.familywellnesscenter.info

The Fourth Law of Health – Rest

Are you getting at least eight hours of rest per night?  Many of us woefully lack in this department.  You need at least eight hours in bed in order to have enough time to get each type of rest you need.  You may have heard of REM sleep or rapid eye movement sleep.  This is the most important type of restful sleep and happens for about five of the total eight hours you are in your bed.

Normally it takes about one and a half hours in the beginning of the night to drop into REM sleep.   You are in REM for about five hours and the last hour and one-half you are coming out of deep sleep.

If you are not getting at least eight hours in your bed at night, you are costing yourself the ability to repair your body.  REM sleep is the time when your body totally relaxes from the stress of the day and the body uses energy resources to repair.

Being consistent about when you sleep is also important as this will help with your circadian rhythm, or the natural ebb and flow of life.  This rhythm allows you to have more energy in the morning and throughout the day.  And naturally, the energy frequency will drop so by the evening time you are ready to drop into your sleep pattern.

What type of bed you sleep on is very important.  We recommend the My Comfort Bed and have a sample in our office.  This bed has a special gel material just under the sleeping surface that allows your hips and shoulders to sink into the gel allowing pressure relief, while supporting your low back and neck, offering support and pressure relief — all in the same mattress.

Proper rest is vital to good health.  Allowing your body to de-stress during sleep so it can repair will add health and happiness to your life.

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Most of us don’t like to exercise.  It takes time out of our busy schedules, it hurts, and many times we are just out and out too lazy to do it.  I know that is how I have felt in the past.  Exercise is one of the most important things we can do to keep our bodies healthy and whole.  It only takes 20 minutes per day to keep the juices flowing.  The oriental concepts of health and longevity are to keep things moving.  Tai Chi is a great example of a fluid movement exercise.

If you are starting an exercise program, I suggest at least 10 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each day.  This can be accomplished with any exercise machine such as a stationary bike, tread mill, stair stepper etc.  Even jogging in place is sufficient to raise your pulse to a target rate.  Take the next ten minutes and work your upper body with resistance exercise such as weights or resistance cords.  Work your upper body one day, and the lower body the next.  Alternate these exercises every other day.  Take Sunday off for a day of rest.

As you move and exercise each day, you will strengthen your muscles, bones, connective tissue, and move your lymphatic fluid will have a better flow.  This will add years to your life.  If you would like to have some help with creation of an effective exercise program, feel free to contact the office and we can help set you up.  Here’s to you your health.

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Are you hungry for food and the life it brings?  I just love food and the joy it brings, especially during the summer months with all of the family parties and social events. Sometimes I just lay there with my stomach so full I can hardly move or roll over.  That’s the problem!!  If I can’t move, how can I exercise? Exercise?!??!  I think I’ll just lie here a little longer and have another piece of blueberry cream cheese pie.  Does this sound familiar?  It does to me some days.

We can attend all of the wonderful parties and enjoy all of the foods, just don’t eat until you are stuffed.  When we eat to excess, we get the washing machine effect in our stomachs.  You know, when you overload your washing machine and the soap just sits on top of the clothes and doesn’t mix in with the water?  This is what happens when we overload our stomachs.  The digestive enzymes don’t mix well with the food, and improper digestion occurs.  Here are some helpful hints with eating.
1) Try to eat your proteins such as meats with vegetables.  Vegetables are a neutral food and can be eaten with both high starch and high proteins.
2) Eat high starch foods such as bread and rice with vegetables.  Again, vegetables can be digested well with either starch or protein.
3) Eat fruits alone as a meal or between meals as a snack.  Fruits are digested quickly and if you place them in the same meal with proteins, the fruit will ferment as protein takes a longer time to digest.
4) Eat a diet consisting of 50% vegetables, 20% fruits, 20% proteins, and 10% fats. Remember to not eat the fruit with meals.
5) Water is best sipped during a meal rather than drinking a lot of water.  If you drink a lot of water with the meal, the digestive enzymes are diluted and it is harder to have appropriate digestion.
6) Eat dessert first as life is too short!!!  No, eat dessert, but just a little and later on after the meal. You can add almonds or nuts, to slow down the “jet fuel” effect of the sugar. Make desserts that involve better choices for the sugar.
Follow these ideas, and you will have a much better digestion, and you will still be able to eat and have fun at those family parties.  Here’s to your health!  For more information, call the office at 801-298-4646.

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This year of 2007 has been a very interesting weather year. We are about one month ahead of the normal weather pattern. The snow pack melted a month ahead of normal, the heat of July was here in June, and the fire tankers have been flying overhead sooner than normal.With all this heat it is very important to make sure you are drinking enough water. I recommend you drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day. That means if you weigh 160 lbs. you would drink 80 ounces per day. Remember you are sweating much more and loosing much more fluid than you do in the colder months.You are also losing more minerals in your sweat. With the loss of minerals, heat stroke is much more likely. We gain our minerals from fruit and vegetables, mostly from green leafy vegetables, so eat lots of salads. Another source of minerals is from one of our suppliers called BioNativus. They harvest wonderful minerals from the Great Salt Lake. This awesome body of water holds many keys to health. The Great Salt Lake receives its water from 35,000 square miles of the most mineral rich dense land in the world. All 72 minerals and noble gasses are found in this water. What’s interesting is that these minerals are highly electrically charged due to being hit by lightening from the electrical storms of the summer. This charge helps with the absorption of the minerals into your cells.Don’t dry up and blow away this summer!! Stay well hydrated and add minerals to your water. Stop by the office and pick up a bottle of minerals to add to your water. The minerals come in a straight liquid, or they can be added to the water with a tasty concentrate. If you have any questions, call the office and one of the staff can answer any questions you might have. To your Health!!Doctor Giles

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