How to Handle Stress
Just like a spring will become deformed or a rubber band will break when pulled too tightly – so will the human body. It can only handle so much stress before somethings gotta give! Stress causes disease. This is a touchy subject. Some may think that I am “blaming the victim” here. But trust me, I am trying to help. I don’t want you to become a victim of your own stress response!
Intuitively, we all know that stress causes sickness and disease. But Western medicine has become so specialized. We look at each system separately. In doing so, we overlook the obvious –no system in the body works alone. They are interconnected in ways that influence their function.
Perhaps the most damaging separation has been the mind and body. We think of these as two separate systems – this is totally false. How can anyone doubt the connection when they are so obvious? A nervous stomach, weight gain after an emotionally difficult life event, or falling sick after a stressful time – no one is denying that these things are linked. So then why are we not addressing it? We are more stressed and more sick than ever before!
There is a somewhat complicated biochemical explanation of how stress (especially emotional stress) causes sickness in the body. It involves many systems – the nervous system, the limbic system (emotion center in the brain), the endocrine system (hormones), and the immune system. All of these systems influence the others. The study of this interconnection is called psychonueroimmunology. You don’t need to know all the details – but you do need to understand that there is a real biochemical effect on your body when you feel stress that causes weight gain, sickness, and disease.
My job is to help people deal with stress in a healthy way so that they do not get sick (or so they can get well). We look at how they can change their stress response by changing the way they think, changing environmental factors, and adding stress reduction techniques to their routines. Stress can not be overlooked when you are trying to lose weight and get healthy!
