STRESS AND THE HOLIDAY SEASON
A Look at the Problems and the Solution
By “Dr. Rob.”
Robert B Nolan, D.C. QME
In today’s demanding lifestyle, to some degree, we all have “STRESS.” For some it is a daily or weekly happening. And, sometimes our stress is seasonal. Second, only to the days and weeks of tax season, are the times around the Fall and Winter Holidays.
Each year thousands of Americans suffer from ‘Holiday Stress.’ This occurs when the normal ‘day-to-day’ schedule becomes overloaded. This results in the development of stress on you and your body. The problem with stress is that it manifests itself in a form that creates havoc to your physical and emotional well-being.
While your mind is sorting out how to deal with the situation, your body is uncontrollably sending out extra hormones (adrenaline, noradrenalin, and cortical). As these enter your bloodstream, your heart pumps faster, breathing quickens, perspiration increases, blood pressure rises, and digestion slows. The body becomes overwhelmed and becomes overloaded and strained. The body tries to adapt to these stresses. As the body tries to heal itself, it will compensate to the stress only to the point of strain.
If a hurricane were to hit a building, it would cause stress to the structure. The structure could become weak and change form by shifting or falling. In comparison, your spine is the structure and stress is the hurricane. Your body is unable to deal with the strain and will start to show symptoms of stress at the weakest spots of the structure or spine in the form of muscle tension, headaches, migraines, neck and back pain. The damage to the structure can also cause additional problems such as digestive issues, insomnia, or frequent infections.
Your solution to reducing or eliminating stress is two-fold. First, you need to deal with the stress itself and secondly, the effects of the stress.
Dealing with the stress would be easy if we would be able to eliminate or reduce stress. However today, careers, conflicts, deadlines, and demands for our money and time play a huge toll on our health.
Here are a couple of simple tips to help you deal with the stress:
1) Taking slow, deep breaths will allow you to come down a little and take stock of the situation.
2) Taking a walk (even 10 minutes) is wonderful because it will help reduce or exhaust the hormones being secreted into the bloodstream.
3) Make a list and make a plan to resolve the situation or problem. The list, if appropriate, should also delegate tasks or responsibilities to others.
If deadlines are the issue, sort out and prioritize. Figure out what is really important and execute a plan. The plan might include eliminating some of the “To-do’s,” or by saying, “no,” when asked to attend an event or possibly not attending the event.
Remember... if there is no resolution to the problem, there will be no resolution to the stress. In the long run, the old “KISS” theory always seems to be appropriate – Keep It Sweet and Simple -- helps most people eliminate or reduce stress.
The repercussion of stress is the physical aspects to your body. Our body functions without little help or concern from us. As an example, it knows when and how to breakdown the food we eat, and when and what needs to be absorbed or eliminated. Our body can be referred to as the self-sufficient super highway. When the stress affects the structure, it causes interference in our bodies.
Just like an accident in the super highway, our body starts to not function correctly or as it was designed. As previously discussed, stress or strain causes problems to the structure of the body or spine. In order to get the body correctly functioning, the structure needs to be restored. One good way of restoring the structure, your body, is to see your local Chiropractor.
Just like a builder restoring a beam in a building that has been damaged in a hurricane, a chiropractor restores the spine naturally by putting the spine in its intended position. This removes the interference in the body so the body can restore (or normalize) function, thus eliminating the affects of stress on the body allowing the “superhighway” to be unobstructed, or the structure to be restored.
Some people are able to cope with stress much better than others, both emotionally and physically. Regardless, no matter how much we eliminate stress in our lives it still prevails periodically through out our lives and puts a price on our health.
By understanding stress, and knowing how to handle it, you can join the millions of other Americans in the joys of your Holiday Season.
©2005 Dr. Robert Nolan
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Dr. Robert Nolan of Nolan Chiropractic Inc. in the city of Orange, California is a respected expert in treating acute and hard to treat conditions. He is a Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) with the State of California and is currently accepting new patients. He can be contacted at 714-633-5521, nolanchiropractic@msn.com , or http://drnolan.chiroweb.com.
If you would like to receive other articles from Dr. Nolan, by email, please send him a note at nolanchiropractic@msn.com
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