Are you Stressed? - Unlocking the Why

We've all heard the phase "take a chill pill" but when it comes to stress, that might be easier said than done! If you're stressed out, you're not alone. Stress is normal - but an overwhelming - part of life yet if it's not managed properly, it can wreak havoc on our overall wellbeing, but believe it not, stress can be both good and bad for us.

Some stress can have a positive effect on the body, where it spurs us on to do our best, it can help us to think clearly, make decisions and problem solve, along with increasing our energy levels and giving us a positive outlook.

If we are feeling no stress, this alone will create stress in the body

But most of the stress that we have is negative stress and we often have to much of it.

Negative stress has far reaching effects, where sleep is affected, concentration is affected, moods will be up and down, motivation will be low, the appetite will decrease, substance abuse can creep in, and it can and will affect many peoples relationships.

Finding a balance with stress is important.

There are six major causes of stress

Physical - the exercise that you do, hard labour, child birth

Chemical - think pollution, pesticides, cleaning products, drugs, alcohol, coffee

Traumatic stress - this could come from injury surgery or infections

Nutritional stress - so think food intolerances, vitamin/mineral deficiencies

Psycho-spiritual - which encompass our relationships, money, careers, our general happiness and so forth

But our biggest stress comes from emotional stress because this one encompasses our feelings

Emotional stress can make things had to manage and cope with, we can often self create a problem or situation, we can be blindsided by a problem, and feeling stressed can make it worse.

This is when we start to feel overwhelmed, our sleep and concentration can be affected, our energy levels, our memory and then we can feel isolated from other people.

There is also a dramatic life changing event that will cause severe strain and overtime change how the brain works.

What causes a person to feel the stress that they do, is different for everyone. It could be one thing, it could be a combination of many things, but how the body reacts to stress is the same for everyone, and has been since our caveman days.

But here's the thing - The level of stress that you can put up with is individual to the person going through the stress, which basically means that we all have a different tolerant level.

This is why some people can have a small amount of stress and fall apart, while others seem to have the entire weight of the world on their shoulders, and not fall apart.

The snowball affect:

Our stress doesn't have to be recent. It can be something that happened years ago, not caused an issue, then all of a sudden, a new stress has been piled on top of it, and now it starts to cause over whelm and become to much today. It may even have been a stress that was sent to the sub conscious to deal with later and has now surfaced.

The mix and match stress

The stressor that tips us over the edge doesn't even have to come from the same place. It can be a combination of many stressors.

It could be an emotional stress, that then causes nutrient stress, then we may have a work place stressor on top of both of those, then all of a sudden, we are dealing with more stress than what we can handle. Our tolerant level has been reached.

Here's the kicker,

The body doesn't care where the stress came from or what kind of stress it is, it just notes that there is stress

But don't stress! You can proactively manage your stress levels using natural remedies and holistic health practices that work with your body's system rather than against them so you can turn down your body's response and maintain a healthy balance.

All in all, stress is a part of life, but it doesn't have to control your life. By taking care of yourself and practicing healthy habits you can manage stress levels

Get some movement in your life! - It is important to choose the right kind of exercise for you. Don't go hard out, something nice and tranquil like yoga or tai chi, or walking with a friend are great.

Take some deep breaths - Breath in through the nose and out through pressed lips. Try this 5-10 times, until you feel a calm coming over you.

Ditch the junk food and drinks. When we fill our body's up on wholefoods we are sending nutrients to every cell in the body allowing it to cope better when stress starts to pile up and switch out coffee or sodas for herbal teas and water.

Read how stress affects your body blog - Which phase are you for more tips.

But if you would like further help to manage your stress and how it is affecting your body and life , let's book a discovery call. contact me here