Stress can Effect Your Health

In my practice over the last few years, I have seen more patients becoming ill because they are Stressed and Anxious. Outside influences such as COVID, Brexit and now the troubles in Ukraine add to many patients already stressful lives.  

As we come to the end of Winter and the new positive Energy of Spring arises let Acupuncture help you with your Stress and Anxiety. 

Stress, Anxiety and becoming overwhelmed is bad enough on its own, but it can actually make you Physically and Emotionally ill.

While Stress doesn’t directly cause illness, it can have a negative impact on your hormones and weaken your immune system’s defences, which makes you more likely to get sick. 

Chronic Stress

Chronic Stress in combination with inadequate sleep, is one of the most common reason people get ill. When we are run down and the hormone cortisol raises.

Cortisol interferes with the ability of specific white blood cells to reproduce and get signals from the body. In addition, cortisol also lowers important antibodies, which lines the respiratory tract and gut and is our first line of defence against invading pathogens.

Inflammation

Inflammation plays a role, too. Stress can negativity affect the way your body handles Inflammation. When you’re stressed, your body releases a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol helps regulate inflammation and, in normal amounts, is considered anti-inflammatory. 

But when you’re stressed all the time, your cortisol levels stay elevated, and this can eventually decrease your body’s sensitivity to the hormone. As a result, your body, and your immune system, don’t respond to cortisol as they should. 

Instead, inflammation gets turned on and then stays on, an issue that can make you more susceptible to getting ill or at least experiencing symptoms. When you get symptoms of a sickness, like the common cold, they aren’t necessarily caused by the virus itself but rather the way your body handles the inflammation associated with exposure to pathogens. And the greater the inflammatory response, the sicker you feel. 

Your Immune Ability 

Your immune system’s ability or inability to regulate inflammation plays a major role in whether you will get ill and how severe the symptoms may be.

Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms 

When you’re stressed, you’re also more likely to lean toward unhealthy coping mechanisms, like overindulging in comfort foods that are high in sugar or refined carbohydrates, smoking, and drinking in excess. These behaviours increase the chances of getting unwell.

Stress can cause Physical Symptoms

Physical problems can come or be exacerbated by Chronic stress and Anxiety. Body Mind and Spirit are intertwined, therefore emotional stress can have a significant affect on your physical body. You may start or exacerbate a condition you already have with stress.

Problems such as 

·      Headaches and Migraines

·      Muscle and joint aches and pains

·      Sleep troubles

·      Fatigue

·      Skin problems

·      Digestive problems

·      Increased heart rate

·      High blood pressure 

·      Worsening menopausal symptoms 

·      PMS worsens with stress 

How to support mental & physical health

Stress is an unavoidable part of life. You’re never going to be able to get rid of it completely, but it’s important to find ways to manage  and to increase your body’s resilience or ability to handle stress. When you do, you may find that your physical symptoms start to reduce, or even go away completely.

If you’re under a lot of stress, you may not ever be able to get rid of it completely, but you can manage and learn to deal with it better with things like yoga, meditation, regular moderate exercise and Acupuncture. Doing a little to manage your stress on a daily basis helps your immune system stay stronger and you healthier.

Acupuncture

Stress and Anxiety affects your whole system in Body, Mind and Spirit, therefore Traditional Five Element Acupuncture which treats you as a whole in Body, mind and Spirit  is an ideal why to  help you cope with day life. An ancient medicine in the modern world, Acupuncture originated thousands of years ago and these methods still treat effectively with modern disease. 

Treatment 

For more information and treatment contact Hannah on:- https://www.southwellacupuncture.co.uk/contact/

Check up 

Of course, it’s always a good idea to chat with your doctor about any lingering physical symptoms to rule out any other underlying causes. Acupuncture can treat alongside western medicine treatment, to support your whole system and side effects of western medical treatments.