Over the past few months there have been A LOT of changes at Edge taking place. New staff, a new electronic medical records system (eClinical), advanced training on our equipment and new branding. You will see the logo change but at the heart and in our mission – we are still the same.
For those of you who are wondering about my health and my surgery in the winter, everything went perfectly as planned and I am a WHOLE person again. It has been amazing with my new-found freedom and I am back on my bike again pushing those pedals. I feel like a kid in a candy store being on the two wheels again. I have a new appreciation for every stroke I get to take.
Although with all this health Disturbance the last 1.5 years I have to say my sleep has really been thrown off its natural rhythm. I tell you this because sleep is gold and if we are not sleep-ing we are not healing and producing hormones in balanced ways. Most of you know I love to teach from my own experience. What works, what does not, and what uncomfortable feelings might you have along the way.
I have been working on hacking my body in different ways to regain this beautiful circadian rhythm of sleep/wake cycles and rebalance my hormones. I will never take you for granted Sleep, ever again!
One tool I have been using to track my sleep is the Oura Ring. For those of you who haven’t heard of this ring, it is a wearable that measures your daily activities using infrared technology directly from the arteries within your fingers. It will provide data around readiness, sleep, temperature, heart rate variable, movement, etc. This will provide meaningful data as nighttime is an opportunity to get an accurate read on your overall health as your body is in a consistent state. Check it out here I want to use this deregulation in my life to help teach everyone at Edge. If you want to create change in your body you will have to use some type of change or “stressor” to do so. This is the concept of hormesis. The scientific community is excited about a relatively new area of research known as “hormesis.” The term, appropriately enough, comes from the Greek word meaning “to excite.”
According to the proponents of the theory of hormesis, tiny doses of toxins/stressors in the body act in a completely different fashion from large doses and may even be beneficial! They “excite” the body’s immune system and repair mechanisms allowing for a better response to chemical or physical insults.
Hormesis was first noted with respect to radiation. While it was clear that radiation could cause cancer, researchers also learned that extremely low doses could stimulate DNA repair and delay cancer in mice. There is even some human epidemiological data suggesting that people exposed to low dose radiation have a reduced risk of developing cancer.
Although, at first the idea that small doses of toxins may be good for us sounds bizarre, there is real evidence for it. Exercise, for example, certainly puts stress on our cells. The increase in metabolism generates free radicals which can be very damaging. But we know that the body adapts and eventually develops a more efficient defense system and, in some cases, a nice booty…
Most of you know that I believe that every diet is the right diet for the right diagnosis, the right season and the right time. When we change our diet we are creating a stressor which will in turn create change. Let’s say we decide to follow a strict Paleo diet, we are forcing adaption of the microbiome/virome (all the little bugs in our gut). Only certain bacteria and viruses can live in a protein-rich, carb-starved environment. This may be beneficial for someone who is trying to heal a particular bacterial overgrowth in their gut or on their skin. This is an example of hormesis.
With this concept in mind I am going to take on the challenge of a carnivore diet. You mean only meat? Yes. Why carnivore? So with the push of my colleague and health coach Ben Azadi, owner of Keto Kamp, I have discovered that the carnivore diet is a controversial evolution of the keto and paleo diet that aims to eliminate carbs entirely from your diet by eating and eliminate food sensitivities to heal the gut.
This diet is not meant to be done long-term but a stress on the body to create positive change – hormesis. Chronic inflammation has been shown to have a big impact on your body clock and your ability to recover in your sleep. Check out my interview with Ben Azadi for more on the carnivore diet and the idea of hormesis.
I will be tracking my progress over the next month and giving weekly updates. Because I love science, I will be using my Oura Ring to track my progress and see if I can make a significant change and regain my deep, healing sleep.
Come check out our newest TRT machine that can assist with any acute or chronic injury.
Much love and light,
Maria Crawford, NP-c
