Tag Archive for: Acute Stress

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Back to School / End of Summer Stress Relief

Back to School / End of Summer Stress Relief

Whether or not September marks a return to the classroom for you or your kids, autumn typically brings about abrupt changes in routines and workloads, resulting in more stress and less of the natural mood-boosting vitamin D we all enjoyed from being outdoors during summer. While stress itself can’t always be avoided, here is how establishing a solid stress relief strategy can go a long way in helping you cope and recover from the toll that stress takes on your body, mind, and spirit.

How Stress Wreaks Havoc

Have you ever noticed that during times of stress, your posture changes, your skin looks duller, your muscles feel tight, and your body feels heavier and more sluggish?

Long periods of stress can lead to chronic muscle tension that in turn can trigger headache and migraine pain, joint pain, nerve pain, bruxism (nocturnal teeth grinding), and aggravate pre-existing conditions and past injuries.

The hormonal cascade that stress triggers affects blood pressure, circulation, breathing rate, muscle tension and creates emotional anxiousness and agitation. Worse yet, chronic stress can cause potentially serious disruptions throughout the body, including a lowered immunity and a heightened risk of heart attack, stroke, autoimmune flare-ups, cognitive, reproductive, weight, and digestive issues. For these reasons, it’s wise to take stress seriously and establish a healthy stress relief strategy to help mitigate its adverse effects.

Mitigating the Harmful Effects of Stress

While periods of stress are nearly impossible to avoid, there are things you can do to help mitigate its adverse effects on our mind and body, including: 

  • Exercise: physical movement, done in moderation, can uplift mood and mitigate the detrimental effects of chronic stress. You can double up on the positive effects of exercise by getting outdoors and asking a friend to join you. 
  • Meditation, breathing exercise, or prayer: stillness, breathwork, prayer, and self-reflection can restore calmness and help you focus on the things you can do that are within your control. 
  • Time with pets and friends: even though stress can make you want to withdrawal from social obligations, making time to talk or visit with a trusted friend can go a long way in making you feel optimistic and supported. 
  • Addressing root causes of stress: sometimes, what triggers stress is evident and temporary. Other times, stress is the result of lifestyle choices requiring change. Toxic workplaces, being burdened with other people’s conflicts, and being overtaxed with too many obligations can all lead to physical and emotional burnout. Stress will become chronic unless and until the root causes are adequately addressed. 
  • Simplifying your schedule: It’s tempting to take things on while feeling overly optimistic about our time and energy reserves, but having too many obligations and–even enjoyable activities–scheduled can leave you feeling stretched and strained. When in doubt, schedule less and leave more time for spontaneity and quiet time as needed.
  • Self-care: often the first thing to be pushed aside when stressed, self-care is vital, even if it’s just making time for an afternoon nap or a relaxing bath with your favourite essential oils and soft lighting. The key is to pay attention to the signs your body sends you that rest is needed. 
  • Stress relief treatments: lingering pain and tension induced by stress often require therapeutic treatments to resolve, such as massage therapy, acupuncture, physiotherapy, and chiropractic treatments.

When Stress Relief Treatments Are Needed

Sometimes, therapeutic intervention is warranted after repeated bouts or long periods of stress, especially when considering how stress-induced tension and inflammation can aggravate pre-existing conditions and old injuries or cause new ones. Postural imbalances, nerve pain, tension headaches, neck and shoulder pain, TMJ disorders, sleep disturbances, chronic muscle tension, and circulation issues are some of the most common physical manifestations of stress that professionally administered stress relief treatments can remedy. 

Therapeutic stress relief treatments can address the compounding effects of stress via several unique approaches. For example:

Acupuncture is a natural and effective way of bringing stress-induced hormones back into balance, restoring a much-needed sense of calm. 

When stress contributes to misalignment and aggravation of pre-existing conditions or past injuries, tailored chiropractic care and physiotherapy treatments can work wonders restoring strength, mobility, muscular balance, and optimal alignment while helping alleviate nerve and joint pain.

For stress-induced muscle tightness and circulation concerns, scheduling a registered massage therapy treatment will effectively release tension and immediately increase oxygen and nutrient-rich blood flow to the areas treated. 

The positive effects that physiotherapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and therapeutic massage have on improving oxygen-rich circulation also helps aid the body’s natural healing and detoxification process by increasing the movement of lymphatic fluid via massage and myofascial release. The combined benefits of releasing muscle and fascia tension and improving circulation and lymphatic flow explain why people typically feel lighter and even notice a nice glow to their skin following stress relief treatments such as massage therapy and acupuncture. 

Regardless of which stress relief treatments you receive, the healing benefits of addressing stress-related tension are both an act of self-care and an investment in your health and wellbeing. 

Book a Therapeutic Stress Relief Treatment Today

Experience the healing, calming, and restorative benefits of a therapeutic stress relief treatment. Give our team of practitioners at Diversified Health Clinic a call today at (250) 382-0018 or book an appointment online. 

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5 Easy Stress Busters

stressed123The definition of stress is the result of any emotional, physical, mental, or social factor that requires a response or change.  Stresses can be physical, metabolic – such as an illness, or psychosocial – such as a death, divorce, or job loss.

Stress is categorizes as either acute or chronic.  Acute stress is the body’s immediate response to a perceived threat, while chronic stress results when a stressful situation persists over time.  Chronic stress can contribute to the breakdown of many bodily systems, such as your immune system.

Try these 5 tips the next time you are starting to feel stressed:

Spend time with friends and family

Talking with a trusted and loved friend or family member can reduce your feeling of stress by increasing your production of cortisol. Cortisol functions is to reduce inflammation in the body, however,  keeping cortisol levels  high over time can negatively affect your immune system.

Eat your dessert

Eating something sweet like chocolate (in moderation) is helpful in reducing stress because it helps to reduce the production of the stress hormone, glucocorticoid.

Take potassium
Research shows that increasing your potassium levels can help protect your body from the negative effects of stress by regulating your blood pressure.  One of the easiest ways to increase your potassium is to eat a banana.

Listen to the music you love
Listening to music you love; whether it’s classical, jazz or pop will fill your brain with feel-good neurochemicals like dopamine.

Walking outside
A 10 minutes walk in a park or green space can clear your head and boost endorphins which will reduces stress hormones.

Exercise
Personal trainer Ulrick Bien-Aimé had been working with stressed out clients for years – he has made these four moves mandatory (hold each pose for 15 seconds).

1. “Start by lying on your back with your legs straight and your hands on your abdomen, about two inches below your navel. Inhale slowly through your nostrils and focus on pulling in your belly. Exhale gradually while pushing your abdomen toward your back”.

2. “Next, bring your knees to your chest while continuing to inhale and exhale. Remember not to hold your breath—whenever you extend or exert energy, you should exhale”.

3. “Place your legs straight on the floor, then lift your right leg and bend it at the knee so your leg is at a 90-degree angle to the floor. Bring your right knee across your body until it touches the floor, making sure your shoulders remain flat. With your left hand, push down your knee to increase the stretch. Mirror this exercise on your left side”.

4. “Finally, lie flat on your back, and pull in your feet until the soles are touching to create a diamond shape on the ground. Spread your knees apart as far as possible and apply pressure with your hands. Pay attention to the parts of your body that begin to feel release—those are likely the places where you tend to trap tension”.

Try adapting your exercise to the type of stress you are dealing with.  If you are feeling out of control, try rhythmic exercise such as running, or swimming. If you feel you need to focus try yoga or Tai Chi and if you are feeling angry, try exercises like boxing or karate.

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Burnout – It’s What Happens After Stress

stress-article-1People who are dealing with stress, would like to have no stress in their lives; but that’s not realist. What they should be aiming for, is how to mange their stress.   Stress can increase the risk of conditions like heart disease, diabetes, depression; and can worsen many preexisting medical conditions.    Stress can affect you both instantly (acute stress) and over time (chronic stress).

Physical symptoms of stress include:

  • Increased heart rate and breathing
  • Headaches/ Migraines
  • Stiff neck /Shoulders
  • Back pain
  • Upset stomach

Emotional symptoms of stress include:

  • Feeling irritable & frustrated
  • Unable to deal with day to day effectively
  • Losing your temper more often
  • Loss of energy
  • Hard to focus on tasks

Long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. Chronic stress can suppress the immune system, increase the risk of stroke, and speed up the aging process. Whether the stress is physical or psychological, the body’s reaction to the stress has the same outcome.  Our bodies can handle small doses of stress, but they are not equipped to handle chronic stress without consequences.

What is burnout?

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. Burnout happens as a by product of chronic stress. Burnout is a gradual process that occurs over time, and left unchecked, can lead to severe depression, and life threatening illnesses.

Physical symptoms of burnout include:

  • Feeling tired and drained most of the time
  • Change in appetite or sleep habits
  • Frequent headaches, back pain, muscle aches

Emotional symptoms of stress include:

  • Feeling of helplessness and hopelessness
  • Unable to deal with day to day issues
  • Feel tired all the time
  • Negative thoughts

 Behavioral symptoms of burnout

  • Withdrawing from responsibilities / Loss of motivation
  • Isolating yourself from others / disengagement
  • Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope
  • Not sleeping

Help lower your stress levels by following these simple stress relief tips:

  • Deep breathing –  Just a few minutes of deep breathing can calm the physiologic stress response, such as shallow breathing, rapid heart beat and increased blood pressure.  One advantage to deep breathing for stress relief is that you can do it whenever you need it.
  • Avoid stress by managing your time and your commitments. Prioritize your tasks and activities for the day or week and rate how important or urgent they are.  At the same time,think about how you can redirect your time to activities that are important and meaningful to you.
  • Give yourself a time out – Taking five to ten minutes to step back and take a deep breath can help your body with the “fight or flight” response that stress causes. A few minutes of down time can help you deal with the issue at hand in a more calm and relaxed manner.
  • Physical activity is the number one way you can reduce the effects of stress. Exercise is a powerful stress reliever. Try to incorporate at least 30 minutes of exercise everyday.
  • Eat a healthy diet, and reduce your caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and sugar intake.
  • Relaxation techniques such as yoga, tai chi, and meditation can help the body to relax, and de-stress. These techniques can be used just before bed to help with sleep.
  • Get plenty of sleep – Keeping a sleep schedule and aim for 7-8 hours of sleep a night.

Help prevent burnout by following these simple tips:

  • Start your day with a relaxing ritual, such as stretches, yoga or hanging out with your pet.
  • Healthy eating, exercising, and sleeping habits will give you the energy and resilience to deal with life.
  • Set boundaries and remind yourself that saying “no” allows you to say “yes” to the activities that you enjoy.
  • Set a time each day when you completely disconnect from the outside world and have a “me” moment.
  • Creativity is a powerful antidote to burnout.  Choose activities that make you happy, like starting a fun project, getting a massage, or volunteering at something you strongly believe in.

Managing your stress involves changing the stressful situation when you can, changing how you react to those situations, and taking care of yourself by making time for rest and relaxation.

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