The holiday season is here. This means you’re busy. Really busy. Many of us thrive on being busy, but when the busyness takes over, it can be hard to keep balance in your life. For some reason, it happens every holiday season – you vow that this year will be different but before you know it, you’re busy every evening and even double-booked on the weekends. Add in shopping for gifts, planning holiday meals, and making travel plans – and you’re stretched quite thin. Suddenly your gym routine, Sunday family supper, evening walks, book club meetings, and afternoon nap are replaced with holiday busyness. Well, this year, we want you to stick to your vow – and make sure that this holiday season is balanced. This balance is super critical for your health and wellness. Skipping out on your regular tennis game or cancelling your evening walk with friends not only impacts your joint health but also your emotional health. Remember, the holiday season can be stressful, and you need time to yourself to manage the stress and emotional drain that comes during the holidays. In this article, we give you some tips on how you can keep balance in your life during the holidays (and through-out the year). We share these tips as part of the SierraSil company vision of helping one million or more people live healthier and more active lives.

Just Say No

Practice saying it out loud. Say the word “no” and then say it again. See, nothing terrible happened. There is nothing wrong with saying no. You can’t do everything and be everywhere. This means you have to say no and mean it when you say it. Think about what is important to you during the holiday season and keep this in mind when you’re asked to help out, attend a party, bake some cookies, or go on a shopping spree – be ready to say no to the offers that don’t mesh with your holiday priorities.

Plan and Prepare

Your gym workouts, morning walks, or evening basketball games are important to you. So, make sure that you stick to these activities during the holiday season. Plan ahead and make sure you’re not giving up your regular fitness routine or evening out with friends because of a holiday event. It’s especially important that you don’t miss out on your priority activities for holiday commitments that you’re not that interested in. If you’re going to miss a yoga session or book club night – make sure it’s for something very important to you. Remember, regular exercise and time with friends is important for your physical health and emotional well-being.

Be Picky

There are only seven days in a week. There are only 24 hours in each day. Think of these numbers when you’re crowding your calendar with numerous holiday events and activities. It might just be a quick trip to the local craft show but when you try to squeeze this in between doing groceries, baking holiday treats for the potluck, and decorating the tree – suddenly you haven’t got a lot of time left. So be picky. Choose the events, activities, and people that are most important to you. You cannot please everyone or do everything.

Keep Smiling

When you smile, you instantly feel better. Just the simple act of a smile can be contagious and make those around you feel better. Better yet, laugh out loud. You’ll feel fantastic and others will smile just by hearing you laugh. When the mall is crowded, and you can’t find a parking spot or when you can’t find that crucial ingredient in the overly busy grocery store – smile. Take a moment to ask a stranger how their day is going. Hold the door open, offer to help someone with their bags - spread small acts of kindness to others. This, after all is what the holidays are really all about.

Remember the Reasons Why

Why are you rushing from store-to-store or baking cookies at midnight or searching online for that perfect ornament or trying to attend three parties in one evening? Why are you making yourself tired and stressed out? Think about the spirit of the holiday season. Is this rushing and stress really what the holidays are supposed to be about? To help you slow down and focus on what makes you feel best during the holidays, jot down the names of the people most important to you and note how you’ll make them feel special this holiday season. This is your priority for the holidays.

Make Some Me Time

That walk, yoga class, knitting group, backgammon game night, and swimming session are all about you. This is a good thing. Make sure you don’t skimp out on this me time during the holidays. You need this time to keep yourself supported, soothed, and happy. This is what balance is all about. Finding and making the time you need each day to enjoy the activities and people that make you feel your best. When you’re able to maintain this through-out the holidays, you’ll be happier, less stressed, and actually enjoy the holidays more because you won’t regret missing out on your favorite activities.

Wishing You the Best

We want you to have a healthy and active holiday season. There is nothing better than spending time with your loved ones. Stop for a moment and take it all in – savor this special time and never take it for granted. The entire SierraSil team wishes you the very best this holiday season.

Inflammation is a key component of the body’s immune system. When the immune system detects injury, illness, or a threat, it triggers an inflammatory response. This inflammatory response works to heal wounds, fight infection, defend against bacteria and viruses, heal joint injuries, and mend muscle and tissue damage. For example, when you have a cut, the skin around the cut becomes red and a bit sore, this is the body’s inflammatory response to help heal this cut. However, there are times when the inflammatory response in the body can be too reactive. This overly reactive response can result in autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s Disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, fibromyalgia, muscular injury, and other inflammatory conditions. There are two types of inflammation:

• Acute: this is the inflammatory response that happens when you have a cut, injury, or illness. Acute inflammation is short-term and last only while you’re healing.
• Chronic: this is long-term inflammation that causes damage to your body. Chronic inflammation can cause an autoimmune disease or result in other problems such as constantly sore joints and reduced mobility.

In this article, we’ll look at chronic inflammation, digging into the causes of inflammation, the diseases connected to inflammation, and how joint health is impacted by inflammation. We do urge you to get medical attention if you are living with chronic inflammation or have concerns about your health. What Causes Inflammation? Inflammation is caused when the body’s immune system response sends chemicals from white blood cells into the bloodstream. These chemicals travel to the impacted tissue, organ, or injury and work to protect and heal you from foreign invaders (viruses and bacteria) and injury (cuts, sprains, sore throats, pulled muscles). When these chemicals are released into the blood stream and reach the injury or illness, you may notice redness at the injury site or have a feeling of warmth. These are signals that your body is working hard to heal and protect you. These same chemicals can cause swelling in your joints and tissues, this is a protective and healing mechanism. However, there are instances when this swelling and over-activity of chemicals causes injury and illness in your body. Persistent swelling in your knee for example, results in irritation and pain, with the swelling wearing down the protective cartilage on your bones, eventually causing joint discomfort and mobility problems. In autoimmune diseases, the body’s immune system becomes over-protective, sending too many chemicals into the bloodstream. This unnecessary inflammatory response can result in the body attacking otherwise healthy organs, joints, tissues, and body systems. What Diseases Are Linked to Inflammation? Arthritis is one of the most common diseases associated with inflammation. In fact, arthritis is used as a common way to describe joint inflammation and soreness. Rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and gouty arthritis are some examples of inflammation-related arthritis. Inflammation can also cause other debilitating joint, muscular, skeletal, organ and autoimmune diseases including: osteoarthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis), lupus, asthma, fibromyalgia, and nephritis. Diagnosis of these and other inflammatory diseases requires an exhaustive medical review. Your doctor and health specialists require a range of tests and health analysis including (but not limited to):

• Blood tests
• Physical exam to look for painful areas, swelling, soreness, stiff joints, and more.
• Procedures and scans including endoscopy, colonoscopy, CT scan, x-rays, MRI, and more.

Typically, people suffering from chronic inflammation related diseases are diagnosed by a specialist such as a rheumatologist, gastroenterologist, or other specialist. What Are the Symptoms of Inflammation? The signs and symptoms of acute inflammation are easy to notice but, symptoms of chronic inflammation can be much harder to identify. Acute inflammation symptoms include redness at the site of cut, swelling in a sprained joint, sore muscles after a tough work-out, or a fever when you have a cold. Symptoms of chronic inflammation and inflammation-related disease can appear to be rather benign. Pay attention to the signals your body is giving you and be aware of these symptoms of inflammation:

• High blood glucose levels.
• Digestive problems including bloating, constipation, gas, bloody stool, or diarrhea.
• Persistent and constant fatigue.
• Skin problems such as rashes, unexplained redness, blotchy patches, psoriasis, or eczema.
• Extremely sore and stiff joints with unexplained swelling, tightness, and discomfort.
• Problems sleeping.
• Brain fog.

Because these symptoms can seem to be rather minor or difficult to explain, it’s very easy for the underlying reason to be missed or for it take a long time to receive a correct diagnosis. The key is that you do not let your symptoms minimized by your healthcare team. Speak up and get the attention you need until you have a diagnosis and effective treatment plan. How is Inflammatory Joint Disease Treated? The treatment for inflammatory joint disease really depends on the scope, type, and severity of the disease. Your healthcare specialist will likely discuss a range of options including rest, medication, dietary changes, exercise, natural joint supplements, and surgery. When treating inflammatory joint disease and other types of chronic inflammation, it’s important that the treatment plan focus on key goals including:

• Reducing the chronic inflammation to enable a long-term remission from the disease.
• Learning which activities, foods, or other lifestyle habits exacerbate and ease symptoms.
• Achieving pain relief. This can happen with natural supplements, anti-inflammatory drugs, and other specialized medications designed to target specific inflammatory chemicals in the body.
• Exercise and activity that allows you to strengthen your joints, muscles, and cardiovascular system.

There is a range of medications available to treat inflammatory joint disease and other autoimmune diseases. It’s important you discuss the pros and cons of these medications with your doctor and that you do take the medication as prescribed. Learning More About Inflammation The following resources can help you learn more about inflammation:

• Mayo Clinic
• Arthritis Foundation
• Crohn’s and Colitis Canada
• Foods That Fight Inflammation (Harvard Health)

To have an active summer, all you need to do is to just do it. Yes, that’s right, find that sport, hobby, or activity that you enjoy and get out and do it. You don’t need to run 10 miles every day or play in a tennis tournament every weekend to be considered active. Being active is all about moving your body in a way that supports healthy joint mobility and allows you to develop strength and fitness. For each of us, this means something entirely different. How, when, and why you’re active is tied directly to how you’re feeling physically and emotionally. To help you have an active summer, we’ve put together our best tips and advice on how you can incorporate activity into your day-to-day. Too many of us mistakenly believe that being active means a rigorous training program or huffing and puffing around the block – it’s time to put an end to these myths. Follow our tips on how to have an active summer and you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner. Move Every Single Day So often when we think of exercise and activity we think of sports like running, swimming, hiking, bodybuilding, or kayaking. This thought process creates inherent and automatic barriers to being active. It’s easy to think “Oh, I couldn’t join a gym” or “But I’m so out-of-shape” or “My joints are so stiff”. The good news is that simple regular every day movement is considered to be exercise and activity.

• Carrying the laundry outside and hanging it on the clothesline. You have to pick-up the laundry basket, carry it outside, put it down, pick up each item and hang it on the line and later you have to repeat the process in reverse. That’s a lot of bending, lifting, and standing – in other words, activity and exercise.
• Doing the housework. Think of all the bending, lifting, pushing, scrubbing, and elbow grease that goes into keeping your house clean. Washing the floors, vacuuming the carpet, moving furniture, wiping counters, etc. – this all adds up to a lot of movement.
• Running errands. It might seem trivial, but all of the movement you do while running errands adds up. We’re guessing you have to walk around a few stores, walk to the mailbox, carry shopping bags and purchased items, etc. – again all ways you’re using your muscles and joints.

And when you add in a morning and evening walk with the dog, a trip to the park with your grandkids, a tennis game, or a yoga class – now you’re really moving and being active. Don’t ignore the small movements you do through-out the day, they count as exercise and activity. We know that for those of you suffering from severe joint discomfort or other conditions, you might not be able to get out and do the extra activities. So don’t discount what you can and are doing. If you feel healthy enough, you can look for extra ways to increase this daily movement by parking the car a bit further from the store or by adding in a short 10-minute walk or doing some seated yoga. Follow Your Passions Think of that last great book you read and how you couldn’t put it down. Every spare moment was spent reading that book. We want you to find an activity that sparks the same passion and excitement inside you. You likely have friends who are passionate about an activity or sport such as tennis, gardening, golf, quilting, swimming, pottery, painting, or walking. It’s this passion that helps them structure their days and gives them something to look forward to. These friends are often out-and-about and always on the go, all the while they’re smiling and brimming with excitement and energy. You can have this as well – think of that hobby or activity you enjoy and determine how to incorporate it into your daily life. All of a sudden your days will get much more active and busy. You’ve got the regular house stuff to contend with along with going to the bookstore to pick up the next book for book club or getting to the pottery studio on time or meeting up with your friends for an evening walk and chat. When you find and follow your passions, you don’t even notice the extra movement, exercise, and activity you’re doing. However, your joints, muscles, bones, immune system, and mental well-being all notice and reap the rewards of this extra activity. Get an Activity Buddy or Join a Group We all have the best of intentions to get up an hour early for a walk or to get out in your kayak more or to eat more green vegetables. The thing is, we are all only human and often it’s hard to incorporate change (even change we want to do) into our daily lives. It’s for this reason and from our own personal experience, that we urge you to find an activity buddy or to join a group that enables you to follow-through on your new intentions. Call up a friend and arrange to meet twice a week in the morning for a walk, a chat, and a cup of coffee. Join your local kayaking club where you’ll meet new people, learn how to kayak safely, and discover new waterways. Invite friends over once-a-week for a “new recipe night”, where you all cook and sample new-to-you recipes. It’s always easy to start and stick to something new when you’ve got a friend or a group of friends who are doing the same thing. You’ll take inspiration from them and you’ll do the same for them. When it’s raining or you’re tired or you simply don’t feel like it – your friends will be waiting for you, and we all know it’s much harder to disappoint our friends than it is ourselves. How Are You Having An Active Summer? The one key take-away we want you to get from this article is that – yes – you can be active. Anyone, regardless of age, health, and environment can move their body and feel good about doing it. Tell us how you’re having an active summer. Visit our SierraSil Community Facebook page and tell us what you did today to be active. Remember to tag us on Instagram and Twitter with #sierrasilsummer and tell us how you’re embracing an active summer. Your post could be just the inspiration someone in the SierraSil community needs to try a new activity or join a new group.