Welcome to this week’s Weekly Reset.
Every week I’ll share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life. These should be a 3 minute read.
Health Insight: The Body Reflects Your Habits
Many people spend years searching for the perfect supplement, workout, or treatment.
While those things can help, the truth is that your body often reflects the habits you repeat daily.
A 20-minute walk.
Getting to bed 30 minutes earlier.
Drinking more water.
Taking time to decompress.
Small actions performed consistently usually outperform dramatic changes that only last a week.
This week, instead of asking, “What should I start doing?” ask:
“What healthy habit do I need to become more consistent with?”
Reflection: What Are You Actually Chasing?
I’ve been reading through Ecclesiastes recently.
One of the themes that keeps showing up is that people spend their lives chasing things that ultimately don’t last - money, possessions, status, recognition, and achievement.
None of those things are inherently bad.
The problem comes when they become the ultimate goal.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that everything on earth eventually fades. The car gets old. The house needs repairs. Money comes and goes. Recognition is quickly forgotten.
What lasts is the impact we have on people, our character, our relationships, and our relationship with God.
It’s a reminder to enjoy the blessings we have while remembering they were never meant to be the purpose of life.
Three Questions
What am I currently chasing most aggressively?
Is it helping me become the person I want to be?
What is one thing that will still matter five years from now?
Weekly Challenge
For the next seven days:
Take one 20-minute walk without your phone.
Use that time to think, pray, reflect, or simply be present.
Practice Update
I’m currently completing my chiropractic internship and preparing to join the team at Y Wellness in Plymouth this August ... exciting!
Thank you for following along on the journey. Feel free to reply to this email - I’d love to hear what stood out to you most,
Preston Hetland
Futuredrhetland.com
952-261-5846
Welcome to this week's Weekly Reset.
Every week I'll share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life. These should be a 3-minute read.
Health Insight: Direction Matters More Than Speed
Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a week and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year. When it comes to health, we're often looking for dramatic changes - a new workout program, a strict diet, or the perfect supplement. While those things can help, the body responds most consistently to the habits we repeat every day.
One workout won't transform your health, just like one unhealthy meal won't ruin it. What matters most is the direction you're moving. Are your daily habits slowly leading you toward becoming stronger, healthier, and more resilient? This week, instead of focusing on perfection, focus on progress. Small actions, repeated consistently, often produce the biggest results.
Reflection: Who Are You Becoming?
One thing I've been thinking about recently is how much attention we give to where we're going in life, while spending very little time thinking about who we're becoming along the way.
Many of us have goals for our careers, finances, health, or family. Those goals are important. But every decision we make today is shaping the person we'll become tomorrow. The habits we repeat become our character. The things we think about become the things we value. The way we spend our time reveals what is truly important to us.
Scripture reminds us that life moves quickly. The days can feel long, but the years pass faster than we expect. Looking back, most people don't wish they had spent more time worrying, comparing themselves to others, or chasing things that never fully satisfied them. Instead, they value the relationships they invested in, the people they served, and the person they became.
Maybe the most important question isn't, "Where will I be five years from now?" Maybe it's, "Who will I be?"
Three Questions
• Who am I becoming through my current habits?
• What is one habit that may be shaping me in the wrong direction?
• What is one small change I can make this week that my future self will thank me for?
Weekly Challenge
Choose one habit you've been neglecting and commit to it for the next seven days. Just one simple action done consistently. It could be a daily walk, reading for ten minutes, getting to bed earlier, or spending time in prayer. Focus on consistency, not perfection.
Practice Update
This week I've continued laying the groundwork for practice after graduation at Y Wellness. It's been a good reminder that meaningful goals are usually accomplished through small daily actions rather than massive breakthroughs.
I'm also excited to share that I'll be hosting an Open House this August as I prepare to begin practice in Plymouth. The date is still being finalized, but there will be opportunities to meet the team, learn more about the practice, eat great food, and enjoy SOME AWESOME giveaways. More details will be coming soon.
Thank you for following along on the journey. Feel free to reply to this email - I’d love to hear what stood out to you most.
Preston Hetland
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/
952-261-5846
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Reset.
Every week I’ll share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life. These should be a 3-minute read.
Health Insight: Your Body Responds to What You Carry
Stress does not only affect the mind. It affects the body too.
We’ve all been there, life feels overwhelming, the body responds before we even realize it. Our shoulders get tighter. Our breathing gets shorter. Our sleep gets lighter. Our patience gets thinner. Sometimes we can feel like we are carrying the weight of the entire week physically.
This is why learning to pause matters.
A lot of people think rest only comes once everything is figured out. Once the schedule slows down. Once the problem is solved. Once the next thing is handled. But the reality is, life rarely gives us perfect conditions to finally be at peace.
Sometimes the healthiest thing we can do is slow down in the middle of the unfinished things and remind ourselves that not everything needs to be carried at once.
A walk, a deep breath, prayer, stretching, getting outside, or simply taking five minutes without your phone can all be simple ways to tell your body, “We are okay right now.”
Your body was not designed to live in constant urgency. Sometimes health begins by learning how to release what you were never meant to carry all day.
Reflection: Don’t Let Chaos Steal the Good
One thing I’ve been thinking about this week is how easy it is to let the chaotic parts of life define the entire week.
A few things go wrong. A plan changes. Something costs more than expected. A conversation feels uncertain. The schedule gets busy. And before we know it, we start calling the whole week stressful, frustrating, or bad.
But when we slow down, there is usually still a lot of good mixed in.
This week reminded me that hectic schedules can be present without being in control of the whole situation.
There can be uncertainty and still be progress. There can be stress and still be encouragement. There can be things that feel unresolved and still be moments worth being grateful for. Trust does not mean pretending everything is easy. Trust means choosing not to let the hardest part of the week become the whole story.
Scripture reminds us over and over again to trust God with our steps, even when we cannot see the full path in front of us. That is not always easy, especially when life feels busy or uncertain. But sometimes trust looks like taking the next faithful step and believing that God is still working in the middle of what feels unfinished.
Maybe the goal is not to have a perfectly calm week - but maybe the goal is to not let the chaos blind us from the goodness that is still there.
Three Questions
• What part of this week have I allowed to control my attitude?
• What good thing happened this week that I may have overlooked?
• What would it look like to trust God with one thing that still feels unfinished?
Weekly Challenge
Write down three good things from your week that stress or control tried to make you miss - they do not have to be big.
It could be a conversation, a small win, a moment of peace, an answered prayer, a sign of progress, or someone who encouraged you. The goal is not to ignore the hard parts, but to remember that the hard parts do not define your whole week.
Practice Update
This week I’ve continued thinking through how I want to introduce myself to the Plymouth community in a more personal way as I prepare to begin practice at Y Wellness.
One thing I am working on is a new “You’re Invited” flyer that will give people a chance to follow the journey, receive The Weekly Reset, hear practice updates, and learn more about upcoming opportunities as we get closer to opening.
I am also continuing to work on timing and details for the Open House later this year. The date is still being finalized, but there will be opportunities to meet the team, learn more about the practice, eat great food, and enjoy some awesome giveaways.
Thank you for following along on the journey. Feel free to reply to this email - I’d love to hear what stood out to you most.
Preston Hetland
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/
952-261-5846
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Reset.
Every week I’ll share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life. This week should be a 5-10 minute read.
Health Insight: Health Is Function, Not Just Feeling
Most people measure health by how they feel. If nothing hurts, they assume they are healthy. If they have energy, they assume everything is working the way it should. If they do not have symptoms, they assume there is nothing to pay attention to.
But health is deeper than a feeling.
Your body is constantly working to keep you alive and adapting to the world around you. Your heart beats without you thinking about it. Your lungs breathe. Your stomach digests. Your immune system responds all day long.
The body is designed with an incredible “God Given” ability to heal. In science, we often call this homeostasis, which is the body’s ability to maintain balance. In chiropractic, this is often connected to the idea of innate intelligence, meaning the body has a built-in wisdom and design that is constantly working toward life, healing, and function.
One of the main systems responsible for coordinating this is the nervous system.
This is why chiropractic has always placed such a strong emphasis on the spine and nervous system. The spine is not just a stack of bones. It protects the spinal cord and helps provide structure, movement, and communication between the brain and body.
In the Gonstead approach, we are not just looking to “crack backs” or chase symptoms. The goal is to carefully analyze the spine and identify areas that are not moving or functioning the way they should. When a joint is restricted, irritated, inflamed, or under stress, it can affect the way the body moves and the quality of information the nervous system receives from that area.
I like to explain it like an outdoor water hose. When the hose is open and flowing well, the water moves freely. But when there is a kink in the hose, the flow becomes restricted. The body is more complex than a hose, of course, but the idea is similar. When there is dysfunction in the spine, the body may still function, but it may not be functioning as efficiently as it could.
In chiropractic, we often call this interference.
Interference does not mean the body is broken. It means something may be getting in the way of the body functioning at its best. The purpose of a specific chiropractic adjustment is to reduce interference and support the body’s ability to adapt and function the way it was designed to.
Interference does not mean the body is broken. It means something is getting in the way of the body functioning at its best. Over time, stressors can build up and affect how well the body adapts. These stressors are often grouped into three main categories: physical, chemical, and emotional.
This is why health is not just about waiting until something hurts. Pain is important, but pain is usually one of the last things to show up. Long before symptoms appear, the body may already be adapting to stress, compensation, inflammation, lack of sleep, or emotional tension.
Over the next few weeks, I want to walk through these three types of interference more specifically. We will look at physical stress, chemical stress, and emotional stress, and how each one can affect the body’s ability to function the way it was designed to function.
Reflection: Designed With Purpose
One thing that’s been on my mind recently is how easy it is to take the body for granted.
Most of the time, we only think about our health when something goes wrong. But we rarely take a step back and just say thank you for this body & life we have been given. Even on an ordinary day, the body is doing something remarkable.
Scripture reminds us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That perspective changes how we see health. Instead of only asking, “How do I feel today?” maybe we should also ask, “How am I caring for what God has given me?”
Health is not about obsessing over the body. It is about stewardship. It is about recognizing that the choices we make each day either support the body’s ability to function or add more stress to a system that is already carrying a lot. Maybe health is not just about feeling good. Maybe health is about helping the body function well so we can live, serve, work, and show up for the people God has placed in our lives.
Three Questions
This week, ask yourself if you have been measuring your health only by how you feel, or if you have been paying attention to how well your body is functioning.
Ask yourself what kind of stressor you have been placing on your body most often.
Then ask yourself what one thing you could begin removing this week that may be interfering with your body’s ability to function well.
Weekly Challenge
For the next seven days, pay attention to one area of interference in your life. The goal this week is not perfection, it should be your awareness. Pay attention to what your body has been trying to tell you, and take one small step toward removing what may be getting in the way.
Practice Update
This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the foundation of how I want to explain health as I prepare to begin practice at Y Wellness in Plymouth.
Over the next few Weekly Resets, I’ll be walking through a short series on the three main types of stressors that can affect the body: physical, chemical, and emotional. My hope is that this series helps you think about health in a deeper way!
Thank you for following along on the journey. Feel free to reply to this email - I’d love to hear what stood out to you most.
Preston Hetland
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/
952-261-5846
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Reset.
Every week I’ll share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life. This week should be a 5 minute read.
Health Insight: Physical Interference
Last week, we talked about the idea that health is function, not just feeling. This week, I want to talk about the first type of interference: physical interference.
The body is incredibly resilient, so it will usually keep going: It will compensate, adapt, and find a way to function. But just because the body can adapt does not mean there is no stress on the system. Think about something as simple as cutting your finger. You do not have to consciously tell your body what to do. You do not have to sit there and say, “Send blood to this area. Create inflammation. Build new tissue. Close the wound.” The body just knows what to do.
That is one of the most amazing things about the human body. Our body was designed with the ability to heal. The body is constantly working toward life and function without us having to micromanage every process. In chiropractic, we often talk about this as the body’s innate intelligence. It is the built in wisdom and design that was given to us at birth. But here is the important part: healing and function depend on communication.
Your brain and body are constantly communicating through the nervous system. The nervous system coordinates movement, healing, digestion, immune response, and organ function. That is why physical interference matters. When there is an injury, irritation, inflammation, edema, or altered movement in an area, the body responds with: Blood flow changes. Inflammatory responses. Ligaments, muscles, joints, and nerves can become irritated. That irritation can change the way the nervous system receives and sends information.
This is where chiropractic becomes so important.
As Gonstead chiropractors, we are not just randomly adjusting the spine. We are looking for specific areas of subluxation. A subluxation is an area of the spine that is not moving or functioning properly and may be creating stress or interference within the nervous system. The goal of the adjustment is not to force the body to heal. The goal is to remove interference. When interference is reduced, the body has a better opportunity to express the life and intelligence that God already placed within it. I like to think of it like this: chiropractic does not put health into the body, it was already designed with an incredible ability to heal and function. Chiropractic helps remove what may be getting in the way.
That is why pain is not always the best measurement of health, pain is often one of the last things to show up. Long before pain appears, the body may already be compensating. This is also why babies and kids can often respond so well to chiropractic care. Their bodies have not always had years and years of compensation layered on top of each other. Their nervous systems are growing and developing rapidly. When interference is found and corrected early, the body often responds quickly. That is also why we care about specific levels of the spine. For example, the mid-back region is connected with nerve pathways that influence many functions in the body, including digestion. That does not mean one adjustment is a magic button. But it does mean the spine and nervous system are deeply connected to how the body functions.
The body is not a machine made of separate parts. It is one connected system. This is the heart of chiropractic. We are not treating the body like it is broken. We are recognizing that the body was made with wisdom, design, and purpose. Our job is to find what may be interfering with that design and help remove it as specifically as possible.
Reflection + Weekly Challenge: The Blessing of the Body
This last weekend we were able to celebrate the 4th of July. I hope yours was filled with laughter, family, and friends like mine was. It made me reflect on how beautiful this life can really be when we take a step back and look at the little things. Most of us are blessed with a body that can walk, talk, breathe, think, and express the life we have been given.
I know for myself, all of those things can be taken for granted in an instant. So I encourage us to take a step back and be thankful for the little things that we have been blessed with in our bodies. Stewardship of our health can be as simple as being thankful for this life we have, even when everything around us can be so crazy.
Three Questions
When you think about your body, do you see it as something broken that needs to be fixed, or as something with the ability to heal?
Where in your life might physical stress be interfering with your body’s ability to express the health and life it was created with?
What would it look like this week to better steward the body you have?
Practice Update
This week I am continuing the 4-week series on chiropractic philosophy and health.
Last week was about health being function, not just feeling. This week is about physical interference. In the next two weeks, we will talk about chemical and emotional interference and how those stressors can affect the body’s ability to adapt and function. My hope is for those who take the time to read these, that they would develop a new appreciation for the body they have been given. The body is not broken. The body is intelligent. The body was designed with the ability to heal, adapt, and function. Sometimes we just need to remove what is getting in the way.
Thank you for following along on the journey. Feel free to reply to this email - I’d love to hear what stood out to you most.
Preston Hetland
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/
952-261-5846
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Reset.
Every week I’ll share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life. These should be a 3-minute read.
Health Insight: The Conversation You’re Having With Yourself
Every one of us has a voice running in the background all day long.
“I’ll never get healthy.”
“I’m always tired.”
“My back is ruined.”
“I’m just an anxious person.”
Most of us don’t even realize how often we repeat these thoughts. They become so familiar that we stop questioning them. The interesting thing is that our bodies are always listening.
Research in psychology has consistently shown that the way we speak to ourselves influences stress levels, confidence, performance, and even the way we perceive pain. Athletes who practice positive self-talk often perform better under pressure. Patients who believe they can improve are generally more likely to follow through with treatment and experience better outcomes. Mindfulness and optimistic thinking have also been shown to reduce stress and improve overall well-being.
Our thoughts don’t magically heal our bodies, but they absolutely influence how we live inside them. If you wake up believing your day is already ruined, you’ll likely notice every inconvenience that confirms it. But if you wake up expecting opportunities, you’ll begin seeing those instead. The same is true with our health.
If you’re actively taking steps to improve your health, don’t let your thoughts constantly erase your progress. Instead of saying, “Nothing is getting better,” try saying, “I’m grateful for every step forward, even the small ones.” Instead of saying, “My body is broken,” remind yourself, “My body was designed to heal, adapt, and recover. I’m giving it every opportunity to do that.”
Reflection: Death and Life are in the power of the tongue
One of the biggest changes in my own life has been becoming aware of the words I speak over myself. I used to replay everything that wasn’t going well. Every setback became proof that I wasn’t making progress. Over time, I realized I was reinforcing the very mindset I wanted to escape.
Scripture reminds us that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” That verse isn’t just about how we speak to others. It’s also about how we speak to ourselves. I’ve found that when I intentionally replace fear with truth, discouragement with gratitude, and doubt with hope, my perspective begins to change. My circumstances don’t always change overnight, but my ability to walk through them certainly does.
The words we repeat become the thoughts we believe.
Three Questions
• What sentence do I repeat to myself most often?
• If someone listened to my self-talk for one day, would it produce hope or discouragement?
• What truth - about my health, my future, or who God says I am - can I begin speaking over myself this week?
Weekly Challenge
This week, pay attention to one negative thought that keeps repeating in your mind.
Every time it comes up, intentionally replace it with a truthful statement that brings life instead of discouragement.
Maybe it’s:
“My body is healing.”
“I am making progress.”
“God isn’t finished with me yet.”
Small changes in what we repeatedly tell ourselves can create big changes in how we live.
Practice Update
Thank you to everyone who continues sharing the Weekly Reset with family and friends. We officially have over 120 people this week! Every week this community grows a little more, and I’m grateful to have you along for the journey.
Have a great week,
Preston Hetland
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/
952-261-5846
Hey, it’s Preston!
Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring a question that has completely changed the way I think about health:
What is health really?
We started by talking about how health is more than simply feeling good. Health is the body’s ability to function, adapt, and heal. In previous weeks, we looked at Trauma & Thoughts and how problems within the body’s structure can affect normal function.
This week, I want to talk about another form of interference:
Chemical interference.
When people hear the word “toxins,” the conversation often becomes a long list of foods and products they are supposed to avoid.
I do not think fear is a helpful way to approach health.
We will never eliminate every potentially harmful exposure from our environment. The body was not designed to live inside a perfectly controlled bubble. It was designed with an incredible ability to recognize what is useful and remove what is not.
At this very moment, your body is processing what you have eaten. Your liver is transforming substances so they can be removed. Your kidneys are filtering the blood. Your digestive system is deciding what should be absorbed and what should leave the body.
The body is constantly working to maintain balance.
Chemical interference becomes a concern when the body is repeatedly being asked to process more than it can efficiently handle. This does not mean one imperfect meal has suddenly prevented your body from healing. It means our repeated habits can make the body’s work easier or harder over time.
The gut is one of the clearest examples of this.
The digestive tract is one of the main places where the outside world meets the inside of the body. Food must be broken down before nutrients can cross the intestinal lining and become available for energy and repair.
Living within the digestive system is an entire community of microorganisms known as the gut microbiome. These organisms interact with our food and communicate with the immune system. They also help maintain the environment along the intestinal lining.
When that environment becomes irritated, the body responds.
Inflammation is part of that response. It is not automatically a sign that the body has failed. Inflammation is one of the ways the body protects an area and begins the repair process.
The problem develops when the body remains in that defensive state and never receives the opportunity to return to balance.
Chemical interference is not limited to food. Alcohol may place extra work on the liver. Nicotine can repeatedly stimulate the nervous system. Poor air quality may affect the lungs and immune system. A medication may be necessary and helpful while still requiring the body to process it.
The point is not that everything around us is dangerous.
The point is that everything we place into the body creates a response.
This same principle is part of why I believe chiropractic matters.
An adjustment does not remove toxins from the body, and chiropractic should never be presented as a detox program. Chiropractic focuses on physical interference within the spine and nervous system.
The nervous system helps the body recognize its environment and coordinate an appropriate response. It plays a role in movement and digestion. It is involved in stress regulation and communication throughout the body.
We cannot ignore what we eat and expect an adjustment to undo every poor choice. We also should not focus only on nutrition while ignoring physical dysfunction that may be affecting how the body moves and functions.
Health requires us to look at the entire environment in which the body is trying to heal.
The goal is not to force the body to heal. The body already possesses that ability.
The goal is to reduce unnecessary interference and create an environment that better supports the healing processes already taking place.
Through my own struggles with gut health, I have realized how easy it is to become frustrated with the body.
When symptoms interfere with your day, it can feel like the body is working against you. You may begin to view food as the enemy or feel betrayed by your own digestive system.
What I continue to remind myself is that symptoms are often evidence that the body is still responding.
The body may be inflamed because it is trying to protect an area. It may create discomfort because something in its current environment has become difficult to manage.
Symptoms should not be ignored, and they should not be used to diagnose ourselves. However, they can encourage us to slow down and pay closer attention.
The body is not always asking us to fight harder.
1. Is there something I repeatedly consume that I already know does not make me feel well?
2. Have I accepted a symptom as normal without considering what may be contributing to it?
3. Am I creating an environment that supports healing, or am I continually asking my body to compensate?
Choose one repeated exposure that you believe may be creating unnecessary work for your body. It may be a food that consistently leaves you feeling poorly. It may be alcohol during the week. It may be nicotine or another habit that your body has become dependent on.
Reduce that exposure for seven days and pay attention to how your body responds. Do not approach the week with fear or guilt. Treat it as an opportunity to become more aware of what your body is communicating.
I am now only a few weeks away from beginning my final preceptorship at Y Wellness in Plymouth.
This next step will allow me to continue developing my clinical skills while also preparing for the transition into practice. There are still many details to complete before opening, but everything is beginning to feel much more real.
I am grateful for everyone who continues to follow the journey and read The Weekly Reset each week.
Thank you for being part of it.
Have a great week,
Preston Hetland
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/
952-261-5846
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Reset.
Every week I share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life. This week’s Reset is about a 5-7 minute read.
We welcomed about 25 new readers to The Weekly Reset this week, and I am incredibly grateful to see this community growing.
If these weekly messages have helped you understand your health differently, would you consider sharing The Weekly Reset with one person in your life?
You can forward this email directly or send them the link below:
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/join-the-weekly-reset
My goal is to make health easier to understand and help more people become active participants in the way they care for their bodies. Thank you for helping me share that message.
Have you ever eaten the same meal on two different days but had a completely different reaction?
One day, the meal sits perfectly fine. Another day, you experience cramping, bloating, nausea, reflux, or an urgent trip to the bathroom.
It is easy to immediately blame the food. Sometimes the food really is the problem. However, the digestive system does not respond to food in isolation. It also responds to the condition your body is in when that food arrives.
Your gut is far more than a tube that breaks down meals.
The digestive system is responsible for breaking food into nutrients the body can absorb and use for energy, growth, and cell repair. But that process requires much more than the stomach and intestines. Nerves, hormones, bacteria, blood flow, and digestive organs all have to work together. Signals are continually traveling within the digestive tract and back and forth between the gut and the brain.
This communication system is often called the gut-brain axis.
Many people think the brain simply sends instructions down to the gut, but the relationship goes in both directions. The brain influences digestion, while the gut continually sends information back to the brain.
Inside the walls of the digestive tract is a network of nerves called the enteric nervous system. These nerves help control how quickly food moves, when digestive juices are released, and how the muscles of the intestines contract and relax.
This helps explain why digestion can change so quickly during periods of stress.
Before a presentation, competition, difficult conversation, or important event, some people suddenly need to use the bathroom. Other people lose their appetite or feel like food is sitting heavily in their stomach. Some experience constipation, while others experience diarrhea.
The food may not have changed.
The state of the nervous system did.
Stress does not always create a completely new digestive problem. Sometimes it changes how strongly the body experiences signals already coming from the gut.
Normal amounts of gas, food, or stool stretch the walls of the digestive tract. Most of the time, those signals remain in the background. But when the gut becomes more sensitive, those same signals may be experienced as pressure, bloating, cramping, or pain.
This is one reason conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome are now described as disorders of gut-brain interaction. Researchers have found that changes in gut sensitivity and intestinal muscle contractions can contribute to abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, or both - even when there is no visible structural damage within the digestive tract.
The symptoms are not imaginary.
They are real signals being processed through a system involving the gut, brain, nervous system, hormones, and immune system.
Stress can act like a volume knob. It may not have created every signal, but it can make those signals feel much louder.
Over the past several weeks, we have discussed three major categories of stress that can interfere with how the body functions: traumas, toxins, and thoughts.
The gut-brain axis gives us a clear example of how all three can affect the same system.
Trauma can include physical injuries, illnesses, infections, major life changes, and difficult emotional experiences.
When the brain perceives a threat, the body begins adapting. Stress hormones are released. Muscles tighten. Heart rate and breathing can change. Resources are directed toward responding to the immediate challenge.
This response is not inherently bad. It is part of the body’s design for survival.
The problem develops when the body rarely receives the signal that the danger has passed.
Research has found relationships between difficult or stressful life experiences and an increased likelihood of certain disorders of gut-brain interaction. A history of stressful life events and severe digestive infections are both recognized as factors associated with IBS. That does not mean trauma is the sole cause of someone’s digestive condition, but it demonstrates that previous experiences may influence how the nervous system and gut respond later.
Trauma does not simply mean that someone is thinking about a bad memory. It may change how readily the nervous system detects danger and how strongly the body responds to stress.
The word “toxins” is often used loosely online. Not every ingredient someone cannot pronounce is poisoning them, and the body does not need a trendy cleanse to perform its normal functions.
A more accurate term is chemical stressors.
Alcohol, nicotine, infections, pollutants, medications, and other chemical exposures can influence the environment of the digestive system. Some can irritate the intestinal lining. Others may affect the immune system or change the populations of microorganisms living within the gut.
Antibiotics are one clear example. They can be lifesaving and medically necessary, but they can also temporarily alter the gut microbiome. In one study of healthy adults, the microbiome moved back toward its original composition after antibiotic treatment, but some bacterial species remained undetectable months later.
That does not mean antibiotics should be feared or avoided when they are needed. It means that substances powerful enough to influence harmful bacteria can also affect the wider microbial environment.
The goal is not to become afraid of everything around us. It is to recognize that the chemical environment we repeatedly expose our bodies to matters.
A thought may begin in the mind, but the body’s response does not necessarily remain there.
The body can react to an anticipated threat in a similar way to an immediate one. You may be sitting safely at your desk, but if your mind is replaying conflict, worrying about tomorrow, or preparing for something stressful, your nervous system may still begin adapting.
Researchers have even demonstrated measurable changes in intestinal barrier function during psychological stress. In a human study, psychological stress and the stress-related hormone corticotropin-releasing hormone increased intestinal permeability through a mechanism involving mast cells.
This does not mean every negative thought damages your intestines. It does mean that thoughts and emotional stress can create real physiological responses.
A thought may influence breathing. Breathing can influence the nervous system. The nervous system can influence digestive movement, sensitivity, secretions, and the intestinal environment.
The body is connected.
Understanding the gut-brain axis does not mean every digestive problem is caused by stress.
Ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, infections, ulcers, food allergies, and other digestive conditions have real biological causes and may require testing, medication, dietary changes, or other professional treatment.
It also does not mean that people can simply think positively and make every digestive symptom disappear.
Stress may contribute to symptoms without being the sole cause of the condition. Food may matter without being the only factor. The microbiome may be important without being the answer to every health problem.
Health is rarely explained by one thing.
The bigger lesson is that we cannot separate digestion from the rest of the body. What we eat matters, but so do our experiences, environment, sleep, stress, and the messages moving through our nervous system.
In my own health journey, I have learned how easy it is to blame the last thing I ate whenever my digestion does not feel right.
Food matters. There are foods that may support one person and irritate another. However, I have also learned that health becomes confusing when we only look at one input.
Sometimes the food stayed the same, but the week became more stressful. Sleep changed. My routine changed. My thoughts changed. My nervous system was carrying something different.
The more I learn about the connection between the gut and the brain, the more I am reminded of how intentionally God designed the body.
Scripture says that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”
God did not create us as a random collection of separate parts. Our thoughts, experiences, nervous system, digestive system, immune system, and physical environment are continually interacting.
That does not mean every symptom is the result of fear, sin, or a lack of faith. We live in imperfect bodies, and seeking appropriate care is not a failure to trust God.
Instead, learning about the body should produce both humility and responsibility.
We may not be able to control everything that happens within us, but we can become better stewards of what God has given us. We can pay attention to what we repeatedly consume, what we continually carry, and how we care for ourselves during stressful seasons.
Caring for your gut is not about chasing perfect health. It is about respecting the design of the body and becoming more aware of what it may be trying to communicate.
What patterns do you notice between stressful seasons and the way your digestion feels?
Have you been focusing only on what you eat without considering the condition your body is in when you eat?
Which source of interference - traumas, toxins, or thoughts - may be placing the greatest demand on your body right now?
Choose one meal each day this week and change the environment in which you eat it.
Sit down rather than eating while rushing. Put your phone away. Take one quiet minute before beginning. Slow your breathing and take a moment to thank God for the food in front of you.
Then eat the first few minutes of the meal with gratitude and appreciation.
I believe wholeheartedly that there is healing power in time spent with God and nothing is too big for him to change!
At the end of the week, ask yourself whether anything felt different.
This was an exciting week for The Weekly Reset because about 25 new people joined us.
As I prepare to begin my preceptorship at Y Wellness next month, I have been thinking more about the kind of health education I want to provide. I want these newsletters to continue moving beyond broad advice and begin exploring specific health topics in a way that is understandable, practical, and supported by research.
Thank you to everyone who has been reading, responding, and sharing these messages. Watching this community grow before I officially begin practicing has been incredibly encouraging.
Remember, if one person came to mind while you were reading this week’s Reset, you can forward them this email or send them the link below:
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/join-the-weekly-reset
Blessings, Preston Hetland
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Reset.
Every week, I share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life.
This week, we are talking about one of the simplest and most powerful things we can do for our bodies:
Walk more.
Walking benefits the joints, challenges the muscles, engages the nervous system, and gives us an opportunity to step away from the noise of everyday life.
For me, walking has also become a time to pray, reflect, and reconnect with the world around me.
The Weekly Reset continues to grow, and I am incredibly grateful for everyone who takes a few minutes each week to read these messages.
If The Weekly Reset has helped you understand your health differently, would you consider sharing it with one person in your life?
You can forward this email directly or send them the link below:
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/join-the-weekly-reset
My goal is to make health easier to understand and help more people become active participants in the way they care for their bodies. Thank you for helping me share that message.
Walking may be one of the most underrated things we can do for our health.
It does not require an expensive gym membership, complicated equipment, or an advanced training program. Most of us can begin exactly where we are, step outside, and immediately do something beneficial for our bodies.
We often hear that we should aim for 10,000 steps per day.
But is there something special about that exact number?
Not necessarily.
Ten thousand steps is an excellent daily goal, but it is not a magical threshold separating healthy people from unhealthy people.
A major 2025 research review found that approximately 7,000 daily steps was associated with meaningful improvements across several health outcomes compared with taking only 2,000 steps. These included lower risks involving cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, depressive symptoms, falls, cancer mortality, and overall mortality. Ten thousand steps remained a worthwhile target, particularly for more active individuals, but the research showed that benefits begin well before reaching it.
A previous analysis found that the association between steps and lower mortality risk tended to level off at approximately 6,000-8,000 steps for adults aged 60 and older and approximately 8,000-10,000 steps for younger adults.
Here is the message I want you to remember:
Every step matters.
Your body does not receive zero benefit at 9,999 steps and suddenly becomes healthy at 10,000.
If you currently average 3,000 steps, reaching 5,000 matters.
If you average 5,000, reaching 7,000 matters.
If you consistently reach 7,000, working toward 10,000 is an excellent challenge.
Health is rarely "all or nothing". It is built by the direction in which we are moving and the behaviors we repeat.
There is a common belief that moving our joints causes them to wear out.
In reality, our joints were designed to experience appropriate movement and loading.
As we walk, the joints of the feet, ankles, knees, hips, pelvis, and spine repeatedly move through controlled ranges of motion. This loading and unloading helps circulate synovial fluid within certain joints, supporting lubrication and the movement of nutrients through the joint environment.
Regular, appropriately dosed exercise may also support cartilage health and is considered an important part of managing conditions such as osteoarthritis.
Walking can help us maintain mobility while preventing the body from becoming accustomed to sitting in one position for most of the day.
That does not mean everyone should immediately force themselves to walk 10,000 steps through significant pain. But for many people, the answer to feeling stiff is not always more rest. Sometimes the body needs appropriate movement.
Walking is not only a muscular activity, it is also an incredibly complex nervous system activity.
Every step sends sensory information from the body toward the brain. Your nervous system processes that information and makes rapid adjustments without requiring you to consciously plan every muscle contraction.
Walking also challenges the autonomic nervous system, which helps regulate functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, and the body’s response to stress. Research suggests that regular walking training may improve certain measures of autonomic regulation, including greater parasympathetic activity and reduced sympathetic activity.
This does not mean one walk instantly resets the nervous system or eliminates every source of stress. It means regular movement gives the nervous system a healthy challenge.
Walks of Gratitude
Walking has become more than exercise for me.
I enjoy tracking my steps and knowing I am doing something beneficial for my body. But some of my most meaningful walks have very little to do with reaching a number on my watch.
I have started thinking of them as my walks of gratitude. During these walks, I intentionally slow down and pay attention to the world around me. I notice the sky, the trees, the weather, the sounds of the neighborhood, and the people going about their lives.
When life becomes busy or overly focused on the next responsibility, walking brings me back into the present moment. It reminds me that life is happening right now. These walks also give me uninterrupted time to pray. Sometimes I thank God for specific blessings in my life. Sometimes I reflect on my day or week and think about where I have grown, where I have fallen short, and what I need to do differently. Other times, I talk to God about what has been weighing on me and what I need to surrender.
First Thessalonians 5:16-18 encourages us to rejoice, pray continually, and give thanks in every circumstance.
A walk can become an opportunity to practice all three.
We can rejoice in the life and abilities we have been given.
We can pray as we move through the world around us.
We can intentionally identify reasons to be grateful. even during seasons that feel uncertain.
Most meaningful goals are not accomplished through one dramatic decision, they are built through small actions repeated consistently.
Ten thousand steps are completed one step at a time. A meaningful prayer life develops by continually returning to God. A career is built by faithfully performing the work placed in front of us each day.
In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul compares the Christian life to an athlete training for a race. He describes living with purpose, practicing self control, and disciplining the body rather than moving aimlessly through life. The passage is about far more than physical exercise, but its principle applies throughout our daily lives:
A meaningful goal requires repeated discipline.
The same is true of nearly everything meaningful in life.
For the next seven days, track your daily steps.
The long term goal is to work toward 10,000 steps per day, but begin with an honest assessment of where you currently are.
If you average fewer than 5,000 steps, try adding 1,000-2,000 steps per day.
If you average between 5,000 and 7,000, work toward consistently reaching at least 7,000.
If you already reach 7,000 regularly, challenge yourself to move closer to 10,000.
If you already average 10,000, add one purposeful walk without your phone or headphones.
If you miss your goal one day, the challenge is not over. Begin again the following day!
At least once this week, take a 20-minute walk of gratitude.
As you walk, consider these questions:
What am I grateful for today?
Where have I seen God working in my life recently?
What has this week taught me?
What burden am I carrying that I need to surrender?
What is the next faithful step in front of me?
I am incredibly excited to share that on Monday, August 17, I will begin my final chiropractic preceptorship at Y Wellness in Plymouth with Dr. Paul Moon & Dr. Brian Boyd.
This opportunity means a great deal to me.
I will be able to continue developing my Gonstead analysis and adjusting skills while beginning to care for people in the community where I plan to build my practice.
If you are interested in scheduling with me beginning August 17 or would like more information about what an initial visit will involve, you can reply directly to this email.
I am grateful for everyone who has encouraged me throughout this journey, and I am excited to begin serving people at Y Wellness.
Preston Hetland
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/
952-261-5846
I’m excited to finally share that starting August 17, I am officially able to begin seeing patients at Y Wellness in Plymouth.
A lot of you have been following The Weekly Reset for quite a while, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. Now, if you have been thinking about coming in, I can finally get you on the schedule.
If you are interested in scheduling a first visit with me,
[fill out this short interest form]
I’ll personally reach out to you with availability and what to expect!
When someone has headaches, it is natural to focus entirely on the head and neck. But one thing I have learned through Gonstead chiropractic is the importance of looking at the body as a whole rather than immediately chasing the area where someone feels pain.
For example, the pelvis serves as the foundation for the spine. Changes in how the pelvis is moving or carrying load can influence mechanics farther up the spinal column. That does not mean every headache is caused by the pelvis, but it is one reason I do not want to assume the painful area is automatically where the main problem is.
In the office, we use a structured approach to evaluate the spine. That includes looking at posture and movement, palpating the spine, assessing specific areas of joint motion, and using other clinical information when appropriate. With the Gonstead approach, the goal is to gather multiple pieces of information before deciding where an adjustment may or may not be needed.
The bigger lesson is simple: where you feel a symptom does not always tell you the entire story.
1st Corinthians 6:19 reminds us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. I think there is an important responsibility that comes with that.
Taking care of our health requires discipline. It means paying attention when our body is telling us something, developing good habits, asking questions, and being willing to take action rather than waiting until something becomes unbearable.
We cannot control everything that happens to our health, but we can be good stewards of the bodies God has given us.
This week, think about one area of your health that you have been putting off.
Maybe it is getting more sleep, walking consistently, cleaning up your nutrition, addressing something that has been bothering you, or simply taking the time to understand your body better.
What is one action you can take this week to be a better advocate for your health?
And again, if coming in to see me has been on your mind, I am now scheduling patients beginning August 17 at Y Wellness.
[I’m Interested in Scheduling]
Blessings, Preston Hetland
https://www.futuredrhetland.com/
Starting this Monday, August 17th, I’ll begin seeing patients at Y Wellness in Plymouth as part of my final clinical preceptorship.
Many of you have been reading The Weekly Reset for months and have gotten to hear how I think about health, the nervous system, and the body’s ability to adapt. I’m incredibly excited to finally start putting those principles into practice with patients.
If you’ve been wanting me to take a look at your neck, back, headaches, an old injury, or simply how your spine is functioning, I would genuinely love to see you.
More information on getting scheduled is at the bottom of today’s Reset.
Every week I share one thought about health, one challenge to improve your week, and one reflection that has been impacting my own life. This week is about a 3-minute read.
You know the spot. That stubborn knot between your neck and shoulder that you stretch, rub, massage, or dig into with a massage gun. It feels better for a little while. Then somehow…it comes right back. We usually assume the muscle itself is the problem. But sometimes the tight muscle may actually be part of your body’s response to a problem somewhere else.
Your body is incredibly good at protecting itself. When the nervous system detects pain, irritation, or a need for greater stability around the cervical spine, it can change the way the muscles around that area activate. Research in people with neck pain has found altered activation and increased co-contraction of cervical muscles essentially creating greater stiffness around the neck.
Think about it like your body putting a brace around an area it wants to protect. That tight upper trap might not simply be a muscle that “needs to loosen up.” It may be doing exactly what your nervous system is asking it to do.
Imagine a bodyguard standing outside a door because he believes something inside needs protection. You can temporarily send the bodyguard away, but if the reason he was standing there has not changed, he is probably coming back. Muscles can behave similarly.
Massage, stretching, heat, or a massage gun may feel great and there is nothing wrong with using those things, but if the tightness repeatedly returns, I think there is a better question to ask:
Why does my body keep tightening this muscle?
The neck and shoulder are also much more connected than most people realize. Research has shown that structures in the cervical spine can refer discomfort into the upper shoulder, trapezius, and shoulder-blade region. That doesn’t mean every tight shoulder comes from the neck. Shoulder injuries, exercise, stress, work demands, and many other things can contribute. That is exactly why examining the person matters.
One of the reasons I was drawn to the Gonstead System of chiropractic is its emphasis on specificity. When someone points to the knot in their shoulder, I don’t simply want to chase the painful spot. I want to understand why it keeps happening.
Gonstead analysis looks at the spine as an interconnected structure and uses a combination of history, visualization, palpation, motion, and other clinical findings to determine where dysfunction may be present and whether chiropractic care is appropriate. If dysfunction in the neck appears to be contributing to the way the body is guarding, the goal is to address the area that is actually involved rather than endlessly chasing the tight muscle. Sometimes the symptom is the body trying to protect you from the problem.
I think there is something incredible about the way God designed the body to protect itself. Pain, tightness, inflammation, and compensation can certainly become frustrating. But many of these responses exist because the body is constantly trying to adapt to what we ask of it.
1 Corinthians 12:18:
“But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”
The more I learn about the human body, the more truth I see in those words. Our job is not simply to silence every signal our body gives us.Sometimes we need to ask what that signal is trying to tell us.
Do you have a muscle that seems to get tight no matter how much you stretch or massage it?
Have you been treating the location of a symptom without asking what might be contributing to it?
What would change if you viewed your body’s symptoms as information rather than simply inconveniences?
The next time you notice that familiar knot, don’t immediately attack it.
Pay attention to when it appears.
Were you sitting for several hours? Driving? Working at a computer? Stressed? Lifting? Does turning your neck change how it feels? Become curious about the pattern. Sometimes asking why is more valuable than asking how to make something disappear.
Beginning Monday, August 17th, I’ll be seeing patients at Y Wellness in Plymouth, and I would truly love the opportunity to work with you.
Whether you’ve been dealing with that stubborn shoulder knot, headaches, neck or back discomfort, an old injury, or you simply want to get your spine checked, reach out and let’s get you on the schedule.
Call Y Wellness and ask for Preston: (763) 543-9080
And as always, if someone came to mind while reading this week’s Reset, forward this email to them. I’d love to have them join us.
Blessings,
Preston Hetland