Stress, we all have it but how we deal with it will affect our health greatly. According to the Mayo Clinic 70% of doctor visits and 80% of serious illnesses are exacerbated or linked to stress.

Stress damages you

I have been practicing 18 years in Hillsborough. I’ve seen it all…and yes stress, the emotional kind, is more damaging to our spines and the nervous system than any snowstorm, yardwork, sporting activity, or motor vehicle accident. This is especially true if that stress situation is long term like an impending divorce, a family member’s poor health diagnosis, a job-related issue, or the decision-making concerns of a caregiver. They weigh on your body. These emotional issues break us down physically, but most people don’t want to acknowledge that it may be the root cause of their physical complaint. It’s hard to pinpoint, and often people don’t want to take responsibility that their thoughts may be the culprit. They tend to want to blame it on a specific incident!

Negative thoughts like fear, anger, resentment, and guilt trigger chemical responses that put us in a fight or flight state. Our bodies release the “stress hormone” cortisol which causes our blood pressure and sugar to rise, our pulse to quicken, and our blood to flow away from our internal organs to our extremities so we can either fight or run away, especially if someone is chasing us with a gun. Now I know that doesn’t happen often (at least I hope not!), but when we hate our work, fight with our spouse, or are struggling with our family’s health concerns or the decisions they make, we are in a chronic fight or flight state. This doesn’t bode well for our body’s overall function. We cannot heal or grow when we are stuck in fight or flight.

Acknowledge and manage stress

We all have stress. It’s life. It’s what happens. The key is not so much to eliminate it but to acknowledge it and manage it. As we strive to live a chiropractic healthy lifestyle, we all know we should eat well and move well, which consists of exercising regularly and getting our spines checked for subluxations (misalignments). The third part of the triune of health is thinking well, and it’s the least practiced and focused on. Just like building a muscle, you have to work at it consistently. Quieting our minds and creating positive thoughts is like building our “attitude” muscle. We must have a consistent routine. If not daily, at least multiple times per week.

Examples to manage your stress

There are many ways to manage our stress. No one way is the best. It’s personal preference. The following are examples of things that you can do: deep breathing techniques, yoga, meditation, tai chi, massage therapy, or chiropractic adjustments. For me, deep breathing is the simplest and quickest way for me to balance my brain and get out of sympathetic tone (fight or flight) and more into parasympathetic tone (growth and healing). I also get adjusted regularly and receive massages (our massage therapists are awesome).

Learn more about stress

The bottom line is that emotional stress is part of life. We must acknowledge it and take steps to neutralize it. If you want to learn more give me a call and we can set up a stress evaluation