Your Health Savings Account: Are You Making Regular Deposits?

Many of us are familiar with health savings accounts (abbreviated HSAs), a separate bank account where you accumulate money to cover medical costs that are not covered by your insurance company. I’d like to remind you about a different health savings account….. the one that really counts.

Imagine if you worked all your life and retired at age 65. You go to your bank to start withdrawing out of your IRA account and find, lo and behold, you hadn’t made any deposits into it for the last 40 years. What could you expect to withdraw when the account is $0?

Well the analogy goes for the health savings account I’m referring to. How do you ignore your health year after year, never making deposits, and then when it comes times for withdrawal, you expect to have health dollars in the bank? That withdrawal may come at a time when you are sick, or when you are under extreme stress and it’s taking a toll on you. We have a patient who reminded me of this last year when she was working round the clock for a political candidate and she said "Dr. Denise, it’s because of all those exercise sessions and because of my adjustments that I was able to get through this period without getting sick."

There are dozens of ways to make deposits into your HSA. Below are a few:

· Eat a healthy breakfast EVERY day. Never, ever skip it. Make sure your breakfast includes fruit, protein, fiber, and healthy carb, like oatmeal. Avoid any breakfast with highly refined sugar (read the label for high fructose corn syrup).

· Choose healthy proteins at each meal such as beans, Greek yogurt, eggs and cottage cheese, and low fat meats such as fish, chicken breast and turkey breast.

· Take possession over your thoughts for they create your life. You get to choose your thoughts each and every day. By practicing meditation you learn have to change the way you think.

· Shut off the television. Good TV is extremely hard to find amidst all the extremely disturbing programs that rule the boob tube. You free up so much time.

· Drink water. How easy this HSA deposit is! Walk up to a sink or water cooler, fill your cup and drink it. Do that at least 8 times each day.

· Take your vitamins. Omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D are essential. As an adult get at least 1,000 – 2,000 mg of each per day.

· Move Move Move. 5 days a week and 30 minutes of exercise is best. Repeat after me, "Exercise is non-negotiable." Sitting for 8 – 12 hours each day has been one of the most significant contributors to poor health in our modern society.

· Last, but not least, be more consistent with your chiropractic care. Don’t just come see us when you are in pain. Do you go to the dentist only when you have a cavity? Do you exercise only after you’ve gained 50 lbs around your middle? Do you wait till your car breaks down before you change the oil? Getting your spine adjusted and nerve system cleared is like an internal oil change, spinal flossing, and spinal exercise all rolled into one.