These days it's hard to avoid the effects of chronic stress which can even become exasperated and can turn into anxiety. If you or somebody you are close to suffers from high stress levels you can see the many effects it can have on your overall health. The good news is that there are easy steps you can take to reduce the pressure.
Your body's nervous system regulates your body with the balancing measures of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is designed to arouse your body to protect itself when it is threatened. The parasympathetic nervous system has the opposite balancing effect of slowing your heart rate, and helping your body to calm down. When you are under long term chronic stress, which many people these days are, your body becomes stuck in the defensive mode of the sympathetic nervous system.
What is anxiety and how is it different from stress? Anxiety can be a condition that causes stress, but on it's own is more fear based. Anxiety is a feeling of discomfort or fear in relationship to some future event or in reaction to random unknown causes.
Chronic stress or anxiety can lead to a number of other health issues including being overweight, anorexia, teeth grinding, migraines, insomnia, psoriasis, hypertension, ulcers, depression, loss of libido, acne, nausea, and any number of other health problems. It can exasperate chronic pain and can even compromise your immune system. It can take it's toll on your relationships. When you're on edge it's harder to relax and enjoy time spent with loved ones. Looking at all of the ways stress can negatively impacts people's lives can seem a bit depressing. The good news is that there are a number of things people can do to regulate their nervous systems naturally:
1) Take some time to learn time management skills. The efficiency you gain in your life by doing this will be worth the initial time investment. (my favorite system is from Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)
2) Ask for help. See if there is anybody around who can lighten the load. You don't have to do it all. Ask yourself: 'what are my resources?'
3) Take breaks and move your body. Even two 10 minute walking breaks during the day can make a world of difference.
4) Daily stress reduction exercises, like mindfulness based stress reduction. These types of practices could include hatha yoga, tai chi, walking meditation, or meditation on the breath.
5) Instead of heading to your allopathic doctor as usual, try gentler holistic methods first. Some examples are Naturopathic medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, and Chinese Medicine (acupuncture and herbs). These approaches treat your whole body and can therefore be more natural and thorough, treating the problems at their root. Not only will you have fewer side effects, you will receive more thorough care from your practitioner.
I have personally used the methods listed above and found them to be effective. Additionally, I have found that Acupuncture, and Chinese Herbal Medicine not only treat the symptoms of stress and anxiety but also treat internal patterns of disharmony caused by it. Acupuncture in particular regulates the body's nervous system and promotes the release of endorphins. It's no wonder that patients become deeply relaxed during and after treatments. But don't take my word for it, try a couple of the above suggestions and see how they work for you.
Rebecca Hindman L.Ac. helps people to recover their natural state of health with Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine. For more information about Chinese Medicine, acupuncture and natural approaches to resolving chronic health issues you can visit her clinic's web site at Acupuncture Austin to download your free ebook.
Posted under acupuncture
This post was written by Rebecca Hindman L.Ac. on August 22, 2010
