What the heck is Mulligan Day?
That workout routine you let lapse, the chinchilla you brought home in high school, basically everything you did in your early 20’s – all of us have made decisions we regret. That’s why National Mulligan Day, celebrated in mid-October, is the perfect time for a do-over, especially when it comes to decisions that affect our health!
Of course, getting back on the wagon isn’t just reserved for Mulligan Day. If you’ve got some things that you wish you’d done differently, any time is the right time to get back on track – the sooner the better!
Sizing up that bunker of do-overs
It’s never too late to take a mulligan and change course. But changing a lifelong habit requires a swing with a solid follow-through. Here’s some motivation to get started!
Drop the smoking & vaping: There’s literally zero benefits to be had from smoking – or, for that matter, vaping. Even overlooking the thousands of other chemicals (that the CDC says can damage nearly every organ in the body), nicotine alone has been shown to cause high blood pressure, arterial plaque deposits, an increased risk of stroke and widespread brain-cell death.
Put down the bottle more often: A recent study from the BMJ demonstrated that people who drank just 15-20 drinks per week were 3x more likely to suffer from damage to the memory-forming area of the brain known as the hippocampus. In fact, the UK’s Chief Medical Officer’s recently-published guidelines state there is “no safe level of alcohol consumption”.
And that thing you read about the reservatrol in red wine making it “healthy”? Unfortunately, you’d need to drink at least 500 liters of red wine per day to actually get any benefit from it.
Have more sex: If you’re not making sex a priority in your relationship, it might be worth checking out some of the research that touts its benefits. Studies show that frequent sex is linked to better memory and recall, and research has shown that those who have sex on a regular basis may be less depressed and more emotionally satisfied too.
Be proactive when it comes to your health!
Perhaps you’re ignoring recurring symptoms from a back injury or you simply power through knee pain at the gym. Failing to get treatment for such issues can result in chronic health problems.
Here’s a mulligan a lot of us could benefit from: get treatment early and nip the injury in the bud so it never grows. Working with your chiropractor to figure out what’s going on and designing a treatment plan to fix the root of the problem instead of trying to deal with symptoms cuts down on the chance of a domino effect, where a little pain leads to serious, debilitating conditions.
Science Medicine Journal calls untreated pain a global health problem:
“Untreated pain has a profound impact on quality of life and can have physical, psychological, social, and economic consequences. Inappropriately managed acute pain can result in immunological and neural changes, which can progress to chronic pain if untreated.”
In other words, don’t spend a lot of time in the hazards; get back on the fairway where you can make your best shot!
Next steps
We only go around once, and we’d all like some do-overs. You can make your golf score look better than it is, but not your health! Looking for a Brookfield chiropractor? To make an appointment at Ascent Chiropractic, call 262-345-4166 or schedule an appointment with our online scheduling app.
