It's Time for Less Stress

Stress often works on us slowly, eating away at our health little by little until some big event happens -- a heart attack or stroke. The stress response occurs naturally when we are threatened. Even a perceived threat -- a non-life threatening situation, such as your boss yelling at you -- can trigger the stress response. Once activated, the stress response causes your adrenal glands to release cortisol and adrenaline into your bloodstream, which in small doses can actually be beneficial to us. But, when we are chronically in a state of "fight or flight," not allowing our bodies to recover, then our risk of obesity, insomnia, digestive disorders, heart disease, and depression rises considerably. 

Stress often manifests first on an emotional level. When you are "stressed out" you may feel frustrated, and even the smallest problem can seem like a huge burden on a cognitive level. However, stress can, and does, affect any system of the body, and is most certainly not just "in your head." The effects of stress can be seen in the following systems of the body:

• Digestive system: Stress commonly causes stomachache, diarrhea, increased appetite, and can cause weight gain.
• Immune system: Stress can lead to a suppression of the immune system and recurrent colds, or hyper-activation of the immune system and autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.
• Nervous system: Stress can cause persistent feelings of anxiety, helplessness and impending doom, depression, sleep disturbances, loss of sex drive and loss of appetite.
• Cardiovascular system: Stress can lead to increased heart rate, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and increased rates of heart attack and stroke.
• Other systems: Stress worsens many skin conditions — such as psoriasis, eczema, hives and acne — and can be a trigger for asthma attacks.

The good news is that you can do something about stress. Apart from lifestyle changes aimed at making more time for hobies, meditation, or other enjoyable activities, Oriental Medicine -- acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine -- can help reduce the adverse effects of stress and help you face stressful situations with more resilience by doing the following:

• Calm the sympathetic nervous system, which is stimulated during the stress response, thereby reducing heart rate, decreasing blood pressure, and increasing heart rate variability – all of which can help reduce the incidence of cardiac diseases.
• Strengthen the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the “relaxation response,” resulting in a calmer mind, better sleep, and less agitation. A stronger parasympathetic nervous system can also help improve digestive disorders.
• Reduce the amount of inflammation in the body by increasing circulation to affected areas, regulating the amount of cortisol in the bloodstream, and affecting gene expression – all of which increase the rates of tissue regeneration and healing.

A single treatment with can produce remarkable results, even for the most stressed individuals. People often feel much more relaxed and have an increased sense of well-being after their initial treatment. Usually, a longer course of treatment is necessary to address many of the functional disturbances in the body that are attributed to stress. For more information, please contact Great Nature Oriental Medicine at (618) 694-5189.