A: Some Facts About Stress
B: The Common Effects of Stress on Your Body, Your Mood and Your Behaviour
C: When to should seek Chiropractic Care for Stress
Not all stress is bad, in fact eustress or healthy stress has little or no effect on our health and well-being and can even have health benefits. However chronic stress can be disastrous on our health and lead to many conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Richard Sutton in The Stress Code speaks of a continuum of stress. Starting with healthy stress which is acute, through intense stress which lasts 3-5 weeks, to relentless stress which may last months or years leading to Burnout or chronic stress.
When you have a healthy stress response, your body reacts to the stress and then all the levels, cortisol, adrenaline, heart rate and breathing for example, return to normal. When stress is prolonged your body’s ability to return to normal becomes affected and your physiological responses stay in a ‘stress state’. Over an extended period of time your system has no more resources to cope with the stress and you will Burnout.
Stress may affect your mood leading to anxiety, restlessness and a lack of motivation or focus. You may feel overwhelmed, irritable or angry or even sad or depressed.
This may very well lead to changes in your behaviour – changes in your eating patterns, angry outbursts or social withdrawal. Many stressed people misuse drugs and alcohol, use tobacco, eat unhealthy comfort foods and exercise less often, all of which aggravates the stress effects on the body.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms your nervous system is compromised. Your nervous system is the most important system of your body – it controls the function of every organ, tissue and cell of your body. When your nervous system is functioning efficiently your body is healthy and responds to the environment appropriately. However, when the nervous system is compromised your ability to respond and adapt to your environment is also compromised and this leads to the symptoms and signs of stress.
Chiropractors are the experts in detecting and correcting problems with your nervous system. We have gentle and effective techniques for correcting the communication of your nervous system with your body so that you can function optimally physically, mentally and emotionally.