STRESS
Stress is your body’s response to threat which triggers a cascade of the hormones cortisol and adrenaline, among others, to ready us for fight or flight when in danger. The threat can be real or imagined.
There are a number of factors which affect the degree to which distress can become chronic stress over time, affecting our health and our relationships. The familiar experiences of difficult family relations or friendships or overload at work, all strain our mental and emotional resources and have an impact on the proper functioning and health of the nervous system. Accidents which result in injury, to ourselves or others, often cause long term anxiety which affects the functioning of our body’s electrical wiring. Worry keeps us overloaded with hormones which affect the health and working of the body’s own self-regulating mechanisms. Childhood experiences such as abuse often cause significant post-traumatic stress which forms a substream to our lives and can result in a vast array of illnesses.
In small amounts, stress can provide a positive influence in our lives – giving us the impetus to get things done and assisting us with awareness to help in keeping us safe under challening circumstances.
And while our systems are made to handle small stress injections every so often, we are not designed to handle long-lasting and brutal doses of stress without suffering ill health effects. This is why incorporating stress-management techniques and practices into our daily and/or weekly routines is of such great benefit.
If you’re the type of person who laughs off the attempts of others to ameliorate the stresses in their lives, and seldom does anything to reduce your own stress levels, you may want to have a look at what the research says about the consequences of ongoing, untreated and chronic stress on your health. The experts at Webmd.com reveal that stress can exacerbate serious health conditions, such as:
- Depression, anxiety and personality disorders (i.e. your mental wellbeing)
- Heart disease, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks and strokes (ie cardiovascular disease)
- Obesity, annorexia (ie eating disorders)
- Acne, psoriasis, eczema and permanent hair loss (ie skin and hair problems)
- Mood swings, irritation, tiredness, bloating/tummy pain, breast tenderness, headaches and changes in appetite/sex drive (ie pre-menstual syndrome)
- Impotence and/or premature ejaculation in men, and loss of desire in both genders (ie sexual dysfunction)
- Irritable bowel symdrome (IBS), ulcerative colitis, gastritis and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERB) (ie gastrointestinal problems)
There are other ways in which stress can manifest its unpleasant effects on us:
mood swings; feeling overwhelmed; difficulty relaxing; low self-esteem; social avoidance; low energy; stomach complaints; insomnia; sexual dysfunction; muscle tension; forgetfulness; lack of focus; poor judgement; addictive behaviours and procrastionation.
I’ve developed over the years a form of Deep Relaxation Therapy which combines phased muscle relaxation and deep breathing with a form of natural energy healing to help reset and regulate your nervous system, allowing the body to heal itself. When chronic stress leaves your body overloaded with toxic levels of cortisol and adrenaline a series of healing treatments can make a vital difference to the health and functioning of your nervous system.
I also give you gentle techniques that you can do to help you stay calm and confident whilst going about your day.Many clients who’ve benefited from my Deep Relaxation Therapy report back that, as a result, they’ve experienced:
- Lowered blood pressure
- Decreased anxiety and depression
- Improved sleep
- Feeling calmer
- Reduced pain from long-term health conditions; and
- A general increase in confidence and coping ability