Supporting Your Nervous System With Supplements And Chiropractic Care
The nervous system is the communication system of your body. You live your life and all of your experiences through it. The better that system functions, the better opportunity you have to experience optimal health. Chiropractic adjustments maintain proper nervous system function by keeping, restoring, and maintaining the health of the spine as it houses and protects main portions of that all-important communication system. Another great way to support the nervous system — along with regular chiropractic adjustments — is high quality supplements in your diet. Below are four great basic supporters of nervous system health.
B Vitamins
B vitamins are important for the health and proper functioning of the nervous system. Vitamin B12 helps regenerate and form the protective sheet of tissue around the nerve itself, called the myelin sheath. This sheath protects the nerve and also helps with proper nerve flow transmission. Thus, B12 as a required factor for that sheath regeneration is important to nervous system communication. B12 also helps synthesize important neurotransmitters and hormones that help the brain function along with mood and state of mind.
Vitamin B6 is known as pyridoxine and is important in brain function as well as metabolism. During pregnancy and infancy it plays a role in brain development. Vitamin B6 helps regulate energy use in the brain. It also plays a role in creating dopamine and serotonin, both neurotransmitters that are imperative for mood, mental health, and sense of well-being.
Vitamin B12 and B6 are common deficiencies in this society as diets lean more toward the Standard American Diet (SAD). SAD consists of excess sugar, refined carbohydrates, and increased saturated and trans fats. So, supplementation is often a good route to assure one is taking in enough of these two vitamins to fully support nervous system function.
Alpha Lipoic Acid
This supplement is an antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals. Free radicals are molecules in the body that can cause large chemical reactions and increase chemical stress. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) works in both blood and tissues, whereas many only work in one of the two. ALA is thought to have therapeutic effects as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent with chronic nervous system diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, and can reduce symptoms of neuropathy such as burning and tingling.
Magnesium
Magnesium is essential in nerve conduction and transmission. Your nerves are constantly sending messages from the brain to cells, systems, and structures, and those are sending information back to the brain. Optimal nerve cell firing and free flow of information is imperative for optimal health and functioning — and magnesium is required for this. Magnesium also helps keep nerve cells alive by preventing over-excitation and excessive use; it has a calming effect on the system.
Vitamins B6 and B12, alpha lipoic acid, and magnesium offer a great basis of support for basic level nervous system support. Our bodies and lives are under more stress now than ever before. Stress, poor diet, and lack of optimal healthcare deplete our bodies of the necessary vitamins and minerals the nervous system needs to function at its highest possible level. After getting your regular chiropractic adjustment, ask Dr. Zeh about vitamins to help support your nervous system and see what else you can do to live an even healthier life.