Just a Post About Stress

Firstly, fervent apologies for the late blog update.  Things have been stressful – or that is, more stressful than usual.

Bearing that in mind, I thought it would be a good time to break away from my more standard “myth busting” soap box and move to another, very fitting topic: stress.

We all go through it.  It’s just the way it is (things will never be the saaaaame).  Hopefully you got the Tupac reference.  If not, be woeful about your generation’s music.  Anyway, back to stress.  It can wreck havoc on many different facets of your body, but by now, I am sure you are aware of this.

Just to surmise:

• Stress is actually a very natural response and isn’t always negative.  The negative portion comes in to play when there is just too much of it.  Aristotle was really on to something when he said everything in moderation.  The negative side effects begin to come in to play when you have too much stress and no breaks at all. Aka system overload.
• Distress (the aptly named condition of having too much stress) can lead to elevated blood pressure
• Distress can also lead to head aches, nausea/stomach problems, and problems sleeping
• Many people suffering from being over-stressed know little about how to correct their problem and sometimes, without even realizing it, do the worst thing possible in effort to alleviate stress. For example, how many times have you heard or perhaps said the phrase  “I need to relax, let’s grab a drink”?  This is an allusion; just take it from GOB* (pictured below).  Alcohol and other substances give the appearance of lowering your stress level when instead they end up prolonging your stressed state

• 

To be honest, there are a lot of symptoms of stress, I just listed the most common; it is by no means an all inclusive list.  Stress can affect everyone differently.

So how do you effectively alleviate stress?  First step is to actually recognize that you ARE distressed.  This in itself is difficult and takes time to really get a hold of – you have to become more in tune to your body.

The second step varies on who the individual actually is, although I definitely recommend working out, getting more sleep, finding a quiet place to meditate, and drinking lots of water.  As a stress eater myself, I also try to watch out  for that huge problem.  I think it’s one of the hardest things to realize – that is, whether or not you are eating because you are actually hungry or because you are stressed out – but drinking more water has helped a lot.  When I am stressed out and craving something terrible for me in regards to nutrition, I drink a glass of water before I eat.  More often than not, after the glass of water and the time it takes to drink said glass of water, I reconsider my craving/am no longer craving it.  It’s all about evaluating your impulses and knowing that you are stressed out.

I do want to include, as I am a chiropractor and this is a chiropractic blog, that getting adjustments can help remove tension on the nerves which control the muscles. When tension is removed the nerves can function properly which will help relax the muscles.  Of course, this is not the only way, as I have listed many above.  And most importantly, the real key is to identify what is causing the stress in your life and remove it.  And if it can’t be removed (job, school, family, friends, etc) then you must learn how to manage it.

Thank you for reading!

*GOB – An Arrested Development reference.  I just couldn’t help it.

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