December 2025: Connect to Thrive
- Chiropractic Review
- Book Recommendation
- Podcast Recommendation
- 5 Factor Health Challenge
- Workout of the Month
- Recipe of the Month
📖 December 2025: Connect to Thrive
The holiday season is about connection with family, friends, and community. Build the Life You Want reminds us that meaningful relationships are a key ingredient for happiness and longevity. What many people don’t realize is how closely connected physical health is to emotional well-being, and chiropractic care plays a quiet but powerful role in both.
By improving spinal alignment and nervous system function, chiropractic care can ease physical tension that often builds up from emotional stress. It improves sleep, boosts immune system performance, and reduces headaches and discomfort, making it easier to be present and engaged with the people you love.
This December, let chiropractic care help you show up as your best self. Fewer aches and pains, better sleep, and balanced energy mean more joy-filled moments with the people who matter most.
📖 Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier by Arthur C. Brooks & Oprah Winfrey
A hopeful, evidence-based guide to emotional wellness, resilience, and building a life rooted in meaning rather than surface-level achievement. A perfect end-of-year reflection read.
Amazon link
🎧 Podcast: The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos – Finding Holiday Happiness
The holidays are supposed to be a time of joy. But all too often, the darker, colder days of winter, and even the stress of preparing for the holidays themselves, can lead people to feel something else: rushed, stressed, lonely, or even hopeless. How can you make sure this year is bright?
Dr Laurie joins Dave DeSteno on his show How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality to unpack the psychological secrets of celebrations from Christmas, to Hanukkah, to Yule, and more. They’ll also discuss how we can put that wisdom into practice, whatever our beliefs, to make this season a happier and healthier one for all.
🎙️ Apple Podcasts | Spotify
🥗 5 Factor Health Challenge: Connect
How we eat, sleep, train, think, and connect
Challenge: Reach out to one person each week for meaningful connection. Call, text, coffee date, or a heartfelt note.
Why you benefit: Connection and community are essential components of happiness, as emphasized by both Build the Life You Want and December’s Happiness Lab podcast.
📅 Workout of the Month
Workout: “Partner Boost”
Goal: Move with a friend, partner, or family member.
3 Rounds (with or without a partner):
- 20 jumping jacks (or step jacks)
- 15 alternating high fives (plank or standing)
- 20 walking lunges (or seated knee lifts)
- 20-second hold hands/arms overhead stretch
- 20-second side-by-side deep breathing
Moves designed for two, or alone with a sense of connection.
🍳 Healthy Recipe: Cranberry Orange Roasted Brussels Sprouts
A festive, colorful side dish perfect for holiday gatherings and sharing with loved ones.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved
- 1/4 cup dried unsweetened cranberries
- Zest of 1 orange
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt, pepper
Instructions:
Toss sprouts in olive oil, salt, pepper. Roast at 400°F for 20–25 minutes. Toss with cranberries and orange zest before serving.
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