Well, it's that time of year again. It's time to have a "mental check in," as I like to call it. Most of us are reassessing the past year and deciding what we need to do to improve our lives with the year to come.

This is a time to start fresh and recommit to ourselves and our loved ones. Of course, everyone's goals are a bit different, but for every single one of us it is our intention to have a healthy, fulfilling year.

Whether you want to lose a few pounds, build a better immune system, be more productive at work, or spend more time with your kids, the very first step in achieving your goals must be to make sure that your body is functioning properly. After all, if your body is not working properly, everything else will fall by the wayside.

As I teach in my office, the first step to building anything strong is to start with the foundation, and for our health, that is our nervous system.

Let's begin with a quick review of the nervous system. The nervous system is made up of your brain, your spinal cord and all of the rest of the nerves that travel to all the organs, tissues and cells in your body. Amazingly, there are more than 12 miles of nerves networked throughout the average person's body! This is like our own internal power plant.

Sounds pretty important, right? Well, it is! In fact, we must protect our nervous system at all times. Of course, you already know this, but let's recap for a minute. If your child were to fall down and injure their head, this would be a concern for you, right? Why?

Precisely because the skull is protecting the brain and we need the brain creating messages and telling our body parts what to do at all times. Now, what if the brain was perfectly fine, but it could not communicate with the rest of the body via your body's internal power plant? Would you be concerned?

Of course!

You see, just like your child's brain must be creating these messages every second, the spinal cord and nerves must also be communicating these messages to the rest of the body or we have a "short" in the internal power plant. This is why we must protect the spinal column (the 24 bones that protect the spinal cord and nerves that exit to the body) just as we protect the skull.

Chiropractors specialize in locating any abnormality in the spinal column that may be causing interference or damage to your spinal cord or nerves. It is critical that every single person integrate proper spinal care into their normal health routine just as you brush your teeth to maintain your dental health.

So, if you are interested in achieving your goals this year, you must start with a healthy, strong, functioning foundation within your body.

Together let's make 2011 the best year of our lives!

If you're interested in looking at your health in a new way this year, would like to join in our health community, or learn more about getting your body healing again, please visit us on our website at www.cdahealth.com or call us at (208) 667-7434.