The word stress elicits different responses from different people. Many people only equate stress to certain types of events that might occur in our lives such as relationship loss, financial hardships, death of a loved one, or major illness. We often don’t stop to contemplate our everyday lives in the absence of these more dramatic events, and realize the stressors that are occurring in our natural course of daily activities. Often times it is these layers of unnoticed stressors when stacked on top of more dramatic stressors, such as those mentioned above, that put us over the proverbial edge and cause us to suffer more major consequences in our mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health.
We might find ourselves so strung out due to these overwhelming stress factors that we end up getting scripts for pharmaceutical interventions or self-medicating with drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, shopping or other vices to find relief. These remedies typically lead to more cycles of stress and more “medicating”. We find ourselves in a hopeless and helpless state of consciousness with little vision as to how to stop the “merry go round”. You can see that there is no end to the viscous cycle unless we purposefully stop the “merry go round” from spinning.
According to prominent clinical data, stress factors are the leading cause of most physical and mental illnesses. While the relationship between stress and illness is complex and the susceptibility to stress varies from person to person, chronic stress has a significant effect on the immune system which in turn can ultimately manifest into an illness. There are many chemical reactions in the body that are directly affected by stress factors that can lead to a myriad of mental and physical pathological conditions. It is safe to say that if we want to really get to the ROOT cause of most illnesses we must address the stress factors.
What are the options and where to begin? The best place to start is to recognize that stress factors and their effects are not always obvious. We need to be aware that they exist if we are to develop a strategy aimed at reharmonizing and rebalancing our mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health. The next goal is to find a way to slow down the “merry go round”. Jumping off at full speed can leave us banged up, bruised and a bit dizzy, but if we can slow it down first, we can recalibrate and regain our footing before stepping off completely. This can be done by finding practitioners who offer stress reducing techniques that encourage parasympathetic nervous system (the relaxation aspect of your nervous system) activation to draw a line in the sand with the stress that begins to allow your body to slow down and reharmonize. This stress motion can cause all the systems in the body to become imbalanced and it takes a minute to allow for the shift back into harmony. It’s not an overnight process so be patient.
Next, it is imperative to find the proper professional help to dive deeper into unresolved mental and emotional factors that are often a catalyst for making the “merry go round” spin faster and faster. It’s the momentum behind the stress. These things must be unburied and dissolved so that the stress doesn’t mount up again causing us to fall back into the downward spiral. Another important factor is recognizing the need to nurture and be kind to ourselves. We need to do that by feeding our bodies the right fuel and to find a suitable exercise, prayer and meditation practice to keep important neurochemicals in balance. With all of this said, this process should not be done in a manner that causes more stress. We highly recommend that you find coaches or mentors that can assist you on your journey to wellness. I promise you that you will not regret taking the steps to control stress and regain balance and harmony.
Jamie Kliewe is the founder of Omni Balanced Life Center which offers many different types of stress reducing techniques such as Therapeutic Massage, Reflexology, Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine, Yoga, Reiki and energy work such as the BioCharger NG and Biofeedback. All services are offered by trained and licensed professionals in a clean and safe environment.
Call 239-234-1608 to schedule a FREE 30-minute consultation.
Services are offered at Omni Balanced Life Center 720 Goodlette Rd., Ste 205 Naples, FL 34102.
Visit: www.OmniNaples.com to learn more.