He had never been more terrified in his life.
This was the feeling Dr. Matt Chalmers had when a patient came to him nearly a decade ago. This man had just sold his business for $20 million and was only 60 years old.
When asked what were his big plans for retirement, the response Dr. Chalmers received from this man literally stopped him in his tracks.
“I won’t be going anywhere. I can’t even get to the top of my stairs or walk my dogs around the neighborhood without excruciating pain.
Maybe I’ll try a few new restaurants and catch up on a few shows in my lazy boy,” he said.
It was at that moment that Dr. Chalmers realized that he was going to learn everything he could about maintaining good health to prevent this outcome for himself, as well as others in his care.
The realization that this poor man in front of him had traded his entire life and health for this fortune was a huge wake-up call.
He decided then and there to dedicate the rest of his life helping entrepreneurs get their health as high performing and successful as their businesses.
He became determined to teach others to get their bodies and minds at the peak of health so that they too could enjoy life for years and years to come.
7 Ways to Manage Stress
Dr. Chalmers took it upon himself to study everything he could about healing the body, and this experience ultimately led him to his current specialty and expertise at Chalmers Wellness, where he created a practice to combine both eastern and western medicine to help patients achieve maximum health and wellness for life. (www.chalmerswellness.com)
Dr. Chalmers has worked with CEO’s, professional athletes, celebrities and people from all walks of life. Many times, people look healthy from the outside and maybe even their basic blood work looks normal but they still have poor health.
He began realizing that sometimes the “normal” tests and traditional approach doesn’t always identify the underlying problems going on inside the body.
He began exploring other avenues such as Eastern medicine and other treatments and has seen amazing outcomes with his patients.
He has helped people overcome ailments such as Lyme disease, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and other conditions that are often difficult to treat.
Through all of his research and experience over the years, Dr. Chalmers has identified one common factor contributing to the poor health of many of his top-level clients.
If you haven’t guessed what that one thing is yet, it is STRESS.
Poor Stress Management Results in Poor Health.
Stress can have extremely damaging effects on your body. Now, more than ever, with the added stress of COVID-19 and quarantine, this is an extremely pertinent topic for right now.
While we are cooped up in our homes with no way to get away from kids or go places to relieve pressure and stress, it’s essential to learn healthy ways to cope with stress without putting our health at more risk.
Many of us can understand the high anxiety that comes from financial stress like wondering if our business is going to survive the pandemic, or whether we can make payroll next week, or if we can pay all the bills.
But, did you ever stop to think about the stress that can come from high levels of success? Maybe you are making sales right and left, and crushing it, blowing past personal records and your dreams seem to be coming true.
However, with that success comes the necessity to work tons of hours to make sure things get fulfilled, and you are having to take on extra work when the team is slammed and all of this is going to create added stress points in your body that you need to also watch out for.
Stress Causes The Body’s Systems To Malfunction
Your body has two gears, kind of like forward and reverse. You know you can’t be in both gears at the same time.
Likewise, the body can have only one neurologic stress response at a time. Either Sympathetic, which is the “fight/flight” mode, or Parasympathetic, which is the “resting/digesting” mode.
You may have noticed at times when you are stressed out, several systems in the body don’t function as well. Although the entire body is affected by stress, for the sake of this discussion, lets talk about what happens to just the digestive system, during stress.
Stress reduces digestive enzymes in the mouth.
When you are stressed out, the digestive system just doesn’t work right. It begins in the mouth where the digestive enzymes begin to pull back and produce less, and some people notice that they get dry mouth and feel dehydrated.
Also, if you eat a protein, the reduction in digestive enzymes causes it to not be broken down properly, which will increase the amount of homocysteine in the body.
This in itself causes another host of problems, like high cholesterol and arteriosclerosis.
Excess homocysteine in the body also causes a depletion of vitamins from the system because instead of utilizing those vitamins to nourish your body, it is essentially “stealing” them to prevent the problems we’ve just discussed here.
So, you’re essentially “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” to just survive.
Stress decreases gastric juices in the gut.
Not only is the mouth producing fewer enzymes, but the stomach to is not producing enough hydrochloric acid to help break down the food properly, which can result in viruses, bacteria, and parasites surviving in our gut.
If the body is not producing enough gastric juices able to “clean” our food before it enters the bloodstream, it can result in infection, illness, and eventually chronic disease.
Not to mention, this can also prevent the body from absorbing minerals like calcium that it needs to stay healthy and strong.
Stress reduces bile in the liver.
Now, the food has left the gut, after not being properly digested in the mouth and the gut and it gets to the liver, which is not producing enough bile.
This will prevent the body from emulsifying the fats to be able to utilize them.
Stress reduces the blood flow to the gut and intestines.
This causes the body to not be able to absorb nutrients from our food and we become nutrient deficient.
Unfortunately, we still get most of the calories from the food, but we don’t have the nutrients to run the whole system.
Stress causes the liver to malfunction.
Although gut health is important, Dr. Chalmers says the liver is actually the most important organ in the body.
The liver is responsible for cleaning everything that goes through your digestive system. When you are overly stressed and the digestive system isn’t functioning properly, the outcome can result in more serious issues like stones in the liver, gallbladder, and kidneys.
To clear something up, if you have stones in your gallbladder, it is not going to solve anything to remove the gallbladder, because the liver is what is actually producing those stones.
In fact, Dr. Chalmers says there is no such thing as gallstones. They are actually liver stones that end up in the gallbladder.
So, if you are one that struggles with persistent stones, then you really need to address the underlying issues that are causing those before going into a surgery that may not fix the problem.
Stress causes the adrenal system to overcompensate.
When the digestive system and the liver isn’t functioning properly, we begin to produce more adrenaline and cortisol just to keep going.
This results in more fatigue and often results in consuming more coffee, sodas or energy drinks to manufacture the energy that we have lost through the body’s effort to overcome stress.
We then have a vicious cycle of poor health, poor sleep, and we repeat the cycle of caffeinating ourselves just to get by.
This process only depletes us more until we eventually become chronically ill with multiple health issues and diseases.
7 Things We Can Do to Manage Stress
As much as we would all love to completely eliminate stress from our lives, it’s not realistic because there are a few things in life that cause stress that is just a part of life, such as kids or your current work situation.
You can’t just immediately eliminate those things. But what you can do is for the stressors in your life that you can’t erase, you find ways to manage and deal with them so that your body avoids the unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Here are a few ideas:
- Follow the G-Code– Dr. Chalmers is a huge advocate of Ryan Stewman’s G-Code. If you aren’t familiar with this you can check out the book here on amazon: Lnkw.co/gcode. And join the Facebook Group here: Lnkw.co/gcodegroup. It is a code of Greatness to remind you to focus on things that will help you achieve your greatest potential in life such as gratitude, health, and doing things that keep you on track physically, mentally, and financially.
- Date night with your spouse – Make an effort to do something enjoyable to reconnect with your partner. This can help to recenter you and minimize the effects of stress.
- Find someone to talk to– a counselor, therapist, or close friend that you can confide in about things that you are struggling with. Having a confidante is one of the best things you can do to work through stress in your life.
- Work out every day– Studies show that exercise greatly reduces the effects of stress on the body. The Cortisol levels reduce and endorphin levels increase. Also, it allows the brain to function properly so that we can think more clearly.
- Self Care to Decompress your mind– Do something you enjoy that will help you to hold things together. This varies for everyone, but here are a few ideas: Reading, watching a show, meditation, massage, hot baths, getting outside in nature, etc.
- Supplements– Unfortunately, the foods that we eat do not have all of the nutrients we need to keep our bodies healthy and functioning correctly. The right supplements will help us to replenish those necessary vitamins and minerals that we just can’t get from food alone.
- Repair the Meridian System– If you have a surgical scar, injections, piercings, punctures, burns, blunt-force trauma, etc, your meridian system may be damaged. Dr. Chalmers advocates using acupuncture to repair the meridian system, allowing the body to fully communicate.
Some Helpful Assessments Dr Chalmers Recommends For More Insight Into Your Health.
Unless you really take a deep look into your body and what’s really going on, you may have underlying issues that you are not aware of.
If you have certain chronic conditions that have not gotten better, you may have things going on in the body that you are completely unaware of, unless you get tested.
Here are some suggestions that can give you more insight:
- Get a sleep study– Dr. Chalmers highly recommends getting a sleep study because oftentimes he comes across patients who may not fit the traditional profile of your typical apnea patient…being overweight or snoring. You might be surprised to discover some of your health issues are related to lack of oxygen while you sleep and just using a CPAP can solve a lot of their health problems.
- Get a Calcium CT/ Score– This is a test that can determine your risk factors for having a heart attack. It can pick up how much plaque is built up around the heart.
- Fods Sensitivities Test– You may be surprised to learn that so many people who are chronically ill, are actually sensitive or even allergic to foods they are consuming on a regular basis. You may be eating foods yourself that your body doesn’t agree with, and you would never know the problems they are causing unless you get tested to learn what you are allergic to. Dr. Chalmers has had patients whose lives were completely changed by just learning what foods they need to avoid.
- Get Your Testosterone Levels Tested. This goes for both men and women. You may be surprised to hear that we all need testosterone, no matter our gender. Testosterone is critical for muscle growth, muscle repair and maintenance, bone density, ligament and tendon health, skin function, energy, cognitive function and other things. If your levels are low, then it needs to be fixed in order to allow the body to function correctly.
Do Some Research and Be Willing to Look at Alternative Options for Your Health and Stress Management
It’s important that you have an open mind about alternative options for your health because the traditional approach is not always the right answer.
You need to realize that there are many options out there to help you deal with stress both medically and naturally.
If you are a top producer, then you need to be aware of all the options out there that can help you live a high quality of life for the rest of your days.
About Dr. Matt Chalmers
Dr. Matt Chalmers has been a chiropractor in the Frisco, Texas area for nearly 10 years now. He holds certifications in Clinical Chiropractic Neurology, “CCCN”, as a Chiropractic Sports Practitioner, ”CCSP”, Spinal decompression, and teaches regularly on these subjects. Dr. Chalmers was featured in the book “How the Chiropractor Saved My Life” By Dr. Deborah Bain MD. He has been voted Best in Collin County and holds multiple awards for treatment.
Nutrition is a very large part of a healthy lifestyle and as such Chalmers Wellness offers a wide range of dietary counseling from weight loss to weight gain. Chalmers Wellness also offers a large variety of nutritional supplements to help improve the overall wellness of the whole family. Learn more at www.chalmerswellness.com.
To see this presentation in full, please go to Lnkw.co/MDM2020
