Stress – Emotional Health

Stress is the emotional, physical, mental response to something that you find stressful. The effects of stress, particularly long-term stress, can manifest as a variety of physical and emotional symptoms.

Stress is often described as feeling overloaded, wound-up, tense and worried, and occurs when we face a situation we feel we can’t cope with. [1]
While stress is usually referred to as a negative experience, not all stress is bad. Some stress can be helpful, motivating us to get a task finished, or spurring us to perform well.
However, if stress is ongoing or the stress response continues over a long period, the effects of stress can impact negatively on our physical and mental health.

Symptoms

When we face a stressful event, our bodies respond by activating the nervous system and releasing hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol. Fluctuations in your body chemistry (temperature, pH and electrical charge are affected and controlled by the autonomic nervous system. This system controls our sympathetic (fight and flight) and the parasympathetic (relax & digest). The sympathetic nerves message the adrenal glands to release adrenaline (our fight and flight hormone). These hormones (adrenalin and cortisol) cause physical changes in the body, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension. Our breathing and metabolism speed up. Our pupils dilate and we sweat more. These physical changes help us to react quickly and effectively to get us through stressful situations. These may including headaches, muscle tension, gastrointestinal symptoms, anxiety, depression, poor memory, bowel problems, recurrent colds, insomnia. These are the usual signs of acute stress.
When stress stays high, additional symptoms can be experienced.

Symptoms of chronic stress include:

Physical symptoms such as heart palpitations, fatigue, sleep disturbance, insomnia, stomach upset, diarrhea, frequent headaches, muscular aches and pains, weakened immune system, high blood pressure Psychological symptoms such as worry, fear, anger, tearfulness, irritability, anxiety, helplessness, difficulties with concentration or memory, or feeling overwhelmed.

Chronic stress is stress that lasts a long time or occurs frequently. Chronic stress is potentially damaging, causing acute symptoms such as anxiety, diarrhoea, headaches, indigestion and anger and contributing to chronic disease such as diabetes, chronic fatigue, low immunity.

We use various naturopathic principles to treat the cause and look for the disharmony in your body and mind to bring your body back to balance. Please see below a brief treatment (Rx) protocol and reference guide, with choices to help improve your health and wellbeing. Click on the headings and links within for more treatment information.

Aims of Treatment:

To enhance the body’s capacity to tolerate stress

To nourish the nervous system

To treat the manifestations of stress in each individual

Herbal Remedies

Herbs for stress and anxiety:

St John's wort (Hypericum), Kava, Valerian, Oats, Passion Flower, Lemon Balm, Vervain, Magnolia, Zizyphus and Magnolia to name a few.

Supportive long-term herbals are:

Withania, Rhodiola, Rehmannia, Licorice, Astragalus, Siberian and Korean Ginseng, Schisandra and Gotu Kola to name a few.

It is important to develop a regular stress management routine, such as yoga, meditation or another relaxing activity, to prevent or alleviate the negative consequences of too much stress. You need to find some activities you enjoy!! I say to my patients “it is no use doing swimming if you prefer to walk”! Ha! You have to find something you like and maybe do something with a friend. You have to embrace it and want to make a positive difference in your life!

When the mind and body find it difficult to handle stress it takes that happiness sparkle away! If you are dealing with any stress there is always a way to treat it. Working with a health professional you are given strategies and treatment protocols to turn the situation into a positive. You deserve to be happy!