*The following article comes from Dr. Dane at Wellness Solutions Center in Newtown, PA. We thought this was really important information and wanted to make it available to our patients.

There is still a lot we don't know about the future with regard to this pandemic and how it will affect our lives and our world. However, what we do now know about the Coronavirus is how the virus behaves and how to protect ourselves once we are exposed. Noticed that I said "once we are exposed". It's not realistic to think that we won't all eventually be exposed to this virus in some capacity. Working from home, socially distancing, and not hugging or kissing your family anymore; is that really never going to happen again?

So, what we can do is protect ourselves? Let's focus on the soil, not the seed. Let's focus on the host, not the virus. Let's make ourselves "bullet-proof" to this and ALL pathogenic viruses. Here is the most important thing we know: people die from organ failure due to a massive, over-reactive, inflammatory cytokine storm. The backdrop that makes people most susceptible to this cytokine storm is having underlying inflammation in your body to start with. What causes systemic inflammation in the body? Metabolic disease or Metabolic Syndrome, and according to a recent study, it has increased by 37% in the last 5 years.

How do we prevent Metabolic disease and/or Metabolic syndrome?

Know Your 5 to Stay Alive!

If you get covid, what if you could predict how you will respond? Or for that matter, what if you could see what future illnesses and diseases you will get and ultimately what will claim your life? What if, like a crystal ball, you could see the road ahead of you and where it was headed? Would you want to know? Now, what if you could then alter that path in a positive, healthier direction? What if you could bend the road in the direction you want to go? I think the answer for most of us would be YES. When the yellow gaslight in the car pops up, it grabs our attention and we respond. We don't ignore it, keep driving and run out of gas, do we? Some of you may not want to answer that. Well, I'm here to tell you that when it comes to your health and protecting yourself against this deadly pathogen, there is a signal that comes on in your body that makes it much more likely for you to get covid and other chronic, deadly diseases and that signal is inflammation.

They say that the best way to predict the future is to create it and I agree. However, on any journey, you must first know your starting point and then your destination. When it comes to your health right now, do you know precisely where you are? In my 29 years of practice, I find that most people truly don't have an accurate picture of their health and almost nobody knows if they are "on fire" with inflammation right now. Many people think they are healthy, and most people have a "positive illusion" of health. Meaning, they think they are a lot healthier than they really are because they feel ok.

However, most people don't know that health has very little to do with how a person feels. Feeling good or not feeling good can be an illusion and gets us into big trouble. Instead of basing our health on how we feel, we should base it on real numbers and how we function. I want to share the 5 baseline numbers that I think everyone should know if they want to feel great, look great, live a long time, and prevent Metabolic disease (inflammation and cytokine production).

These 5 important biomarkers are:

1. Muscle vs Fat Ratio: How much muscle vs fat you have on your body and where you are carrying it.

2. Blood Pressure and Resting Pulse: An indicator of how your cardiovascular system is functioning.

3. Fasting Insulin: A measurement of how much sugar you are taking in, how fast you are damaging your cells, and if you're storing fat instead of burning it.

4. HbA1C: Hemoglobin A1C, a biomarker of aging and sugar metabolism.

5. Triglyceride/HDL ratio: The strongest predictor of our #1 killer, cardiovascular disease.

When these 5 numbers are in acceptable ranges, your body is in the best state to fight off covid and other pathogens. Making some simple lifestyle changes (you can get support on this from your chiropractor) can make a big difference in helping you stay safe, energetic, happy, and healthy.

(If you have additional questions about these biomarkers, we here at Live Well Chiropractic would love to answer them! Just Dr. Tolman on your next visit, or click HERE for more info on letting us help you improve your health!)