by Kathy Zering
While stress is a natural response designed to keep you alert and safe, the prolonged strain of chronic stress acts as a silent strain deteriorating your body and harming your health. Stress is inevitable for many of us in the fast-paced world we live in. So, the key to managing your stress levels and staying ahead of any detrimental effects stress can have on your body and health is to understand more about chronic stress and how it shows up, its connection to burnout, and the role of the parasympathetic nervous system in maintaining your overall health. Keep reading to learn more.
The Nature of Chronic Stress
Stress is a physiological response that dates back to our ancient ancestors. It evolved as a survival mechanism, helping our predecessors react quickly to life or death situations. This “fight or flight” response floods the body with hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, preparing you to either confront or flee from a threat. Nowadays, you still experience this sympathetic, or “fight or flight” response in times of stress or perceived danger. However, it can become chronic if, for example, you’re in a high pressure work environment and putting out fires throughout the day, most days.
In moderation, stress can be beneficial, enhancing our performance and boosting our responsiveness. Unlike acute stress, which is short-lived and often beneficial, chronic stress is persistent and ongoing. It can be triggered by various sources like work-related pressures, financial worries, relationship problems and health concerns. As you juggle these stressors day in and day out, your body struggles to return to a state of equilibrium, leading to a range of health issues.
Burnout is the Culmination of Chronic Stress
One of the most concerning outcomes of chronic stress is burnout. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged exposure to high levels of stress. It often affects individuals who are deeply committed to their work or responsibilities, pushing themselves beyond their limits without allowing for proper rest and recovery.
The symptoms of burnout are multifaceted. Physically, you may experience fatigue, headaches and gastrointestinal problems. Mentally, you may feel detached, experience reduced concentration and exhibit signs of cynicism and negativity. Emotionally, burnout can manifest as a sense of hopelessness and a loss of motivation. Left unaddressed, burnout can severely impact your quality of life and your ability to function well both personally and professionally.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System: A Balancing Act
To understand the impact of chronic stress on your body, we must also explore and understand the role of the autonomic nervous system, specifically the parasympathetic branch. The autonomic nervous system regulates bodily functions that occur unconsciously, like your heart rate, digestion and respiratory rate. The parasympathetic nervous system acts as a counterbalance to the “fight or flight” response, promoting relaxation and restoration. It’s often referred to as the “rest and digest” response.
When you experience stress, the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers the “fight or flight” response, becomes dominant. This activation is vital for immediate survival, but it should be followed by a period of parasympathetic dominance to allow your body to recover and repair. It’s all about balance.
Unfortunately, chronic stress can disrupt this balance. With the sympathetic system constantly in overdrive, your body doesn’t get the chance to return to its resting state, leading to a cascade of health problems.
The Physical Toll of Chronic Stress
Stress affects all systems of the body including the musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous and reproductive systems. It can weaken the immune system, making you more susceptible to infections and diseases. Additionally, prolonged exposure to stress hormones like cortisol can lead to high inflammation, a known driver of various chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and autoimmune disorders. Increased heart rate and blood pressure, common responses to stress, can strain the heart and blood vessels, potentially leading to hypertension and an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Mental and Emotional Ramifications
The effects of chronic stress extend beyond your body, or physical realm, affecting your mental and emotional well-being. Persistent stress can contribute to the development of anxiety disorders and depression. And the constant activation of stress pathways in the brain can lead to structural changes that disrupt healthy cognitive functions, including memory and decision-making.
Mitigating Chronic Stress: Strategies for Resilience
The good news is that you can take steps to mitigate the impact of chronic stress on your body and mind. Building resilience is essential to navigate the challenges of modern life while preserving your well-being. Here are a few strategies to consider:
Mindfulness and Meditation: Practices like mindfulness and meditation can help activate your parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and reducing stress hormones. These techniques encourage you to be present, fostering a sense of calm amidst the chaos.
Energy Healing: Energy healing sessions also activate the “rest and digest” parasympathetic response in your body. The practitioner guides you into this deeply relaxed state, where the body is then better able to heal itself on all levels: mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Regular Exercise: Physical activity is a powerful stress reducer. Engaging in regular exercise helps you release endorphins, your natural mood elevators. Exercise also provides a healthy outlet for your pent-up energy and tension. A daily walk is a simple way to start your exercise routine.
Quality Sleep: Adequate sleep is crucial for restoring your body and mind. Establishing a regular sleep schedule and creating a conducive sleep environment can improve your sleep quality and help manage stress.
Healthy Lifestyle Choices: A balanced diet and proper hydration can support your body’s resilience to stress. Avoiding excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption can also contribute to better stress management.
Social Connections: Building and maintaining strong social connections can provide emotional support during challenging times. Sharing experiences and seeking guidance from your friends and family can alleviate feelings of isolation.
Your Next Steps for Stress and Burnout Relief
Chronic stress is a silent strain that has the potential to erode your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Understanding the effects of chronic stress on your body and recognizing the signs of burnout is crucial for taking proactive measures to protect your health.
If you’re curious about the level of stress or burnout in your life and how detrimental it may be, take my complimentary “How Bad is My Burnout?” quiz to find out. The results will tell you the phase you might be in and what next steps to take to ensure your body’s health and wellbeing don’t deteriorate any further.
Additionally, start nurturing your parasympathetic nervous system and adopting one or more of the stress-reduction strategies noted above. Practiced on a consistent basis, you can build resilience and have a healthier, more balanced life in an increasingly demanding world.
Photo by jeshoots – Unsplash
by Kathy Zering
Chronic pain is debilitating, and impacts every area of life – ask anyone that has it.
Not only is it a burden to your physical wellbeing, but it impacts your emotional and mental health as well. You feel different when in pain, less energetic, maybe even short-tempered or angry. For me, I felt and acted like a different person when in pain.
When I was very ill and had osteoarthritis along with other physical complications, I was miserable, but kept pushing ahead thinking one of these days I’d begin to feel better. I wasn’t happy, and definitely wasn’t enjoying life.
I had to cancel plans all the time. I couldn’t know how I would be feeling, some days were better than others, but because I couldn’t count on how I would feel, many times I just declined invitations in advance rather than cancelling last minute.
People close to me were understanding, but I did lose some close friends at the time who took my actions personally without considering what I was going through. I suppose that’s why we go are given these challenges in life, to learn and gain a clearer understanding of what’s important – and who is important – in your life.
Most people manage chronic pain through medication, just like I did initially. But it is also possible to reduce or eliminate your pain level through energy healing sessions. I wish I found energy healing sooner in my healing journey.
I suffered for almost 2 years addressing just the physical aspects of my illness, with conventional doctors, medication, etc. After only a few energy healing sessions, I began to experience a shift and after months of the energy healing combined with more holistic approach by my new naturopathic doctor, that’s when the symptoms and pain began to decrease.
Energy healing triggers the relaxation response in your physical body, releasing the energetic blocks stored in the body’s energy field, resulting in decreased stress levels and increased immune response. This is key to resolving chronic pain and other chronic issues that have manifested in the physical body over time.
And energy healing sessions balance not only the physical body, but also the emotional, mental and spiritual parts of you. It supports the body’s innate ability to heal itself and resolve imbalances on all of these levels.
It’s an integrative healing approach that looks at the whole person, including the mind, body, and spirit. The focus is on getting to the root cause contributing to chronic pain.
Another benefit of energy healing is that it can increase the efficacy of other types of healing modalities. It’s a safe complement to other types of medical and therapeutic treatments including Western medicine, Chinese medicine, herbal medicine and homeopathy.
Here’s a list of the benefits of energy healing:
Energy Healing Benefits
Many people with long-term conditions say that they have learned to “live with their pain.” During my health challenges, I thought the same.
Do you think that too many people have resigned themselves to living with pain that could be relieved? Are you one of those people? If so, maybe it’s time to pursue energy healing.
Photo by Kat J on Unsplash
by Kathy Zering
It’s a common theme these days: stress. Not the good type of stress that gets us excited or motivated to take action, but the chronic debilitating stress that leads to all types of problems, especially if the signs of this stress are ignored or not dealt with constructively, and it’s allowed to continue for days, weeks, months, or even years.
There’s only so much a body can take, and that chronic stress can lead to all types of medical conditions and even serious diseases, or to mental and emotional issues like strained relationships or even depression.
It can lead to people using unhealthy coping mechanisms like smoking, overdrinking (alcohol), overeating, watching too much TV, etc., a temporary relief that only makes the problem worse.
Our bodies and minds have a way of warning us, and we have to become more in tune and aware in order to take positive action to prevent serious injury or harm.
As an example, in the past I had a few years of severe back pain that I’m convinced was entirely due to being overstressed. It started off slow, a twinge every now and then, and some achiness on occasion. One day, my back “went out”, it went into a spasm – I collapsed to the ground to try to alleviate the pain and lay there motionless praying it would stop.
I went to numerous chiropractors and even a back surgeon who told me I’d never get better (I was 26 years old at the time). This continued for a few years with one or two spasms per year and no real resolution.
For those who haven’t experienced a back spasm, picture your lower back like a tight elastic band getting tighter and tighter, and hurting, and then that elastic band being cut and unable to hold you up in a standing position anymore. It would terrify me because I knew inevitably what would happen next and felt powerless to stop it. The spasm would make me drop to the ground and lay there for hours, motionless, for hours or sometimes a day or two, until I could move without screaming in pain.
I’m not sure what was worse, the take-your-breath-away pain, or the fear of that pain knowing that any slight movement could trigger it. After the first couple of spasms, I was provided some pretty strong meds to take for the spasm and pain, which would make me sleep. It seemed to shorten the healing time it took to get on my feet again, but didn’t address the underlying cause.
The last time my back went out (spasm), I was at a party. I was uncomfortable and my back was tight that day, but not any more than usual. I was just standing around the kitchen table, and felt my back muscle stretching and then pop, spasm. I couldn’t move.
The pain was excruciating, and kept getting worse, to the point that I had to drop to my knees and lay on the floor until and an ambulance came, and I was taken to the ER, given a powerful pain killer that took most of the pain away, allowing me to walk out of there and eventually get home.
So what changed – how come my back hasn’t gone out again in the past 20 years? Well, I started paying attention to what my body was telling me instead of ignoring it.
If I overused my back one day and could feel some slight tightness occurring, I would take a positive action to address it before it got worse. For me, I would put arnica gel on it and take it easy for the rest of the day, get a good night’s sleep, and take it easy the next day.
So I wouldn’t end up in the ER again, I used the power of a morning ritual to ensure I was tuning in to how my body felt, every day. And that’s one of the two things I recommend to my clients to be able to reduce their stress and feel better on a consistent basis. Here’s more detail on that:
Commit to a morning ritual.
There are so many benefits to having a morning ritual. Just the self-discipline to wake up early and plan for it helps you mentally and provides confidence and a sense of pride when you stick to it.
The ritual itself helps you focus on what’s important, manage stress, and is the best way to start your day.
Morning rituals can include one or a few of the following: meditation, prayer, journaling, self-Reiki/energy work, listening to a guided meditation or to uplifting music, visualization, reading from the bible or some other inspiration book, stretching in bed and thinking of 3 things you’re grateful for, going for a walk outside and noticing birds singing, the wind, the warmth of sun, the clouds, etc.
Some people do focused breathing, power breathing, yoga, or some other exercise or physical activity. Drinking a cup of warm water with lemon or with Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar in it could be part of your ritual.
You can get more ideas for your morning ritual by reading this article: 6 Morning Rituals of Steve Jobs, Tony Robbins, Oprah, and Other Successful Leaders or by watching Tony Robbins’ morning ritual on YouTube.
Remember, a morning ritual only works if you do it. In creating your morning ritual, find something that you enjoy doing and that you find effective. Evaluate it after a month or two to ensure it’s providing the results you want. Do you feel more productive? Calmer? More focused? If not, make an adjustment and keep at it.
The second thing I suggest to clients are Epsom salt and baking soda baths/soaks.
It could be a relaxing and healing foot soak or a full body bath. Aim for 1 – 3 times per week for best results.
Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, and it is common for people to be deficient in magnesium these days. Since your skin is the body’s largest organ, the body can absorb this important mineral while you’re soaking in it which can be easier on the body than ingesting it.
Magnesium regulates over 300 enzymes in the body and not only draws out toxins, but has numerous health benefits including: eases stress, improves sleep and concentration, makes insulin more effective, helps muscles and nerves function properly, improves oxygen use, and reduces inflammation to relieve pain and muscle cramps.
Because the magnesium in Epsom salts soothes away soreness and assists in the removal of lactic acid from muscle tissue, taking a bath or soak after a hard workout or after a massage is helpful in faster recovery.
And baking soda should be added because it acts as an emulsifier and is great in calming itchy skin or other skin conditions. It is especially useful in neutralizing the chemicals in typical unfiltered bath water.
Taking this kind of a soak boosts our health and well-being, and also strengthens our immune system and can prevent disease. Some people call it a detox bath or soak and sweat out a lot of toxins. Stay well hydrated by drinking relaxing herbal tea or iced water before, during and after your soak. If you have any serious health conditions, check with your doctor before trying this.
When making a foot soak I use 1 handful of Epsom salt to ½ handful baking soda in a small plastic container that my feet fit in perfectly. I soak for 20 minutes or longer – until the hot water starts to get cold. Then I rinse my feet off, moisturize them and get into bed. Easy peasy.
For a detox bath, I fill the tub with hot water, add about 2 cups Epsom salts, 1 cup baking soda, a few drops of essential oil like lavender (optional), get in and soak for 20 minutes or longer. You want as much of your body underwater as you can. My tub isn’t very deep, so I take a small hand towel that I keep wet with hot bath water and cover up any parts sticking out of the water. I close my eyes, do some breathing exercises or meditation, and relax.
When I’m done soaking I’ll shower off quickly, apply some natural argan oil moisturizer (or coconut oil or other natural moisturizer), and climb in to bed for a relaxing night’s sleep. Don’t be surprised if you feel deeply relaxed and extremely calm, the magnesium helps to increase serotonin levels. It sure to be one of the best night’s sleep you’ve had in a while.
Leave a comment to share your experience with morning rituals or detox baths, or to just let me know if you found this info helpful.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
