Dealing with Stress
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
The stress response is a common physiological reaction that allows us to adapt to our environment.
Your health is negatively impacted by a variety of stressors, including worrying about your physical well-being,
your career, your family, your relationships, and your finances.
When your spine is subluxated or out of alignment, your nervous system becomes irritated
and you experience more stress.
How your body reacts to Stress.
When you experience stress, you have an innate physical reaction that includes the sympathetic nervous system being activated (“fight or flight”), which causes your pituitary gland to produce the hormone ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). Your adrenal glands are then instructed by ACTH to release the hormones cortisol and adrenaline. These stress hormones raise your blood pressure and heart rate in order to supply more blood to your muscles and facilitate faster responses.
The stress reaction is helpful since it provides you with the required energy for the situation. Your immune system’s capabilities may also be improved, at least temporarily. Your digestive system shuts down as you enter “fight or flight” mode. It inhibits the parasympathetic nervous system, or “rest and digest.” Cortisol and adrenaline levels drop when the perceived threat has passed, and other body functions return to a normal state.
Stress adaptation
Our lives are filled with stress, including too much work, technology use, food toxins, prolonged sitting, and more. Many people have persistent sympathetic dominance and rarely enter the restorative state of parasympathetic dominance. When you remain in this sympathetic dominant state (also known as “fight or flight”) for too long, problems emerge. Long-term stress can result in back pain, neck discomfort, headaches, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, insomnia, digestive problems, impaired immune function, and many other health issues.
How to reduce the stress response
Your body will suffer from the negative effects of continuous, chronic stress if your spine is subluxated, keeping you in a sympathetic dominance condition. By addressing subluxations and spinal abnormalities, specific chiropractic care allows your body to sustain a healthy level of parasympathetic dominance. When parasympathetic dominance is the default state, with brief intervals of sympathetic dominance to help you get through stressful situations, your body functions optimally.
Restoring Sympathetic/Parasympathetic Balance:
Adjustments are a powerful reset to bring the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems back into balance.
Even 10 minutes of casual walking can have a significant impact. To get more benefits, try an activity you enjoy.
Through deep breathing, your body is relaxed and instructed that there is no need to “fight or flight”.
A healthy sleep schedule helps the nervous system function properly and reduces stress.
Proper nutrition, free of chemicals and toxins, helps to reduce sympathetic dominance and stress.
Nurture good relationships with loved ones and friends whom you can confide in and who will support you.
If you think you need support, consider therapy.
