How Our Body Manages Stress
You’re sitting in traffic, late for an important meeting, watching the minutes tick away. Your hypothalamus, a tiny control tower in your brain, decides to send out the order: Send in the stress hormones! These stress hormones are the same ones that trigger your body’s “fight or flight” response. Your heart races, your breath quickens, and your muscles ready for action. This response was designed to protect your body in an emergency by preparing you to react quickly. But when the stress response keeps firing, day after day, it could put your health at serious risk.
Stress is a normal response for our bodies. We need a stress response in times of danger or overwhelming fear or grief. This short term stress response is beneficial to our health. Stress becomes detrimental when we are in prolonged states of chronic stress. This constant triggering of stress hormones can lead to:
- Increase Heart Rate
- Irregular Breathing
- High Blood Pressure
- Irritability
- Headaches
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Tensed Muscles
- Weakened Immune System
We are surrounded by stress. Stress from jobs, family, finances, and social interactions; just to name a few. We could easily let these things overwhelm us and let the stress affect our health. The healthier way to deal with stress is to start implementing techniques that can relieve those feelings.
- Exercise
- Exercise is shown to reduce stress hormones and improve sleep.
- Reduce Caffeine Intake
- Caffeine is a stimulant and can add to the feeling of panic and anxiety.
- Write It Down
- Writing your emotional state down can help so see it in a new perspective. It’s also good to write down something that you are grateful for or that brings you calmness to help alleviate stress.
- Chiropractic Care
- Chiropractic adjustments directly affect the nervous system and help to take our body from a “fight or flight” (stress) state to a “rest and digest” state.
- Meditate
- Practicing mindfulness, such as meditation, can allow the body to calm and begin to let go of stressful and anxious feelings.
- Joy
- It is important when combating stress to do something that brings you joy. Taking a walk, cuddling with a pet, visiting friends and family are all great ways to relieve stress.
Our lives will always be filled with stressful moments. It is important to make sure that they are simply moments and not a long lasting drain on our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. We would love to help on your journey to less stress!
Join us for meditation: https://calendly.com/bill-kscc/max-meditation
Make an appointment to get your nervous system checked: https://bit.ly/ScheduleAConsultation_KSCC