(This is part one of two blog posts exploring stress and its affect on our health. This is an overview. Next Monday we will take a more philosophical look at why stress cause dis-ease in our bodies.)
I am stressed. You are stressed. And we seem to take pride it in sometimes, even making it a competition with friends and family members, groaning about how much more stressful our life is.
What is this “stress” we find ourselves wallowing in and what can we do to rid ourselves of to lead healthy, joyful and productive lives?
Of course there are the normal stresses of life events, marriage, children purchasing home, which can in fact push us towards creativity and productivity. However, we will look at stress, which is defined as a strain or tension from physical, biochemical, psychological and even electromagnetic sources.
Many sources of stress involve the workplace. The very nature of some jobs are physical, wearing down the body. In the modern race of consumerism, we work longer hours yet become rapidly unsatisfied with the lack of respect or compensation for our efforts.
It doesn’t get much easier when the day’s work is done, when we try to balance work and home life, while at the same time focusing on developing deeper relationships with loved ones…and did you ask “what’s for dinner?”
We know all stress is affecting specifically our health negatively. From mental heath issues like depression and anxiety, to frequent colds, heart attacks, ulcers and strokes, our bodies prove the abuse of strain and tension is fatal to a vibrant life.
With the effect of tension and strain on our bodies, attention should be given to our skeletal and nervous systems.
Chiropractor and speaker Dr. Patrick Gentempo, Jr. said in a July 19, 2014 blog post that people who are stressed and sick to varying degrees can see significant results from adjustments. “Further, it is critical to cite that healthy patients, who manage well the three dimensions of stress in their life and show limited signs of subluxation tension patterns, benefit from the adjustment. In fact, qualitatively, adjustments received while a patient is in this state of well-being are significant.”
Gentempo made the comparison that people who are starving need food, but so do those who are merely hungry.
Stress is a two-way street. How our minds feel affects our body—how our body feels affects our minds. An body that is not well does not deal with life’s stresses adequately.
At Dopps Chiropractic NE, Dr. Ryan Dopps explains that the brain projects an image of health and healing to the rest of the body, which flows down the spine throughout the nervous system. Interference or subluxations from stress, strain, trauma and life in general inhibit this message of how the body should function. Correcting these through chiropractic adjustment relieves stress on the spine, releasing the body to function optimally.
Dr. Dopps also advocates a healthy lifestyle to deal with stress. We can reduce our stress through eating a balance of good foods, regular aerobics and strength training, relaxation techniques such as meditation or massage, as well as good old time off from the daily grind with vacations or hobbies.
If you are interested in finding out more about how chiropractic care can benefit your life, call Dr. Dopps’ office to schedule an appointment.
Read more about how our body adapts to deal with stress and our individual General Adaptive Potential next Monday!
