Blessed, Not Stressed
“The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well” -Hippocrates
Stress. Everyone experiences it, and it isn’t always a bad thing. However, is it ruling your life and mind? Society has programmed our thoughts to believe stress is bad, and yes, like most things, too much of anything can become a bad thing. Stress is one of the many unique designs created by the body as a response mechanism to maintain homeostasis, but when a constant overflow of stress occurs, our body can get stuck in a constant state of fight-or-flight.
This is better known as a response by your sympathetic nervous system. When your body is stuck in this sympathetic response, it can no longer adapt to the best of its ability. This lack of adaptability can manifest in a variety of different ways throughout the body. In relation to stress, symptoms like a lacking immune system, sweating, shortness of breath, and many others can occur.
These responses are controlled by a part of your brain called the hypothalamus, which acts as a command center in the brain and sends signals to release epinephrine. Epinephrine initiates sympathetic nervous system activation that in turn controls those symptoms. There are a variety of ways to get this over run stress response in check. First and foremost, get your spine checked! Your spine houses your spinal cord which is made up of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. By adjusting SPECIFIC segments tailored to your spine and symptoms, interference of the nerve communication to the rest of the body can be removed.
This in turn helps your body return to its natural state of homeostasis, and function properly to adapt to the stress being induced. Tools like mindfulness techniques, breathing exercises, getting outside, and exercise should be used in conjunction to regular adjustments to help your nervous system properly adapt. If you feel like chronic stress is overrunning your life, consider the role chiropractic care can have as a natural solution to facilitating a positive change in how your body handles stress.
Welch A, Boone R. Sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to specific diversified adjustments to chiropractic vertebral subluxations of the cervical and thoracic spine. J Chiropr Med. 2008 Sep;7(3):86-93. doi: 10.1016/j.jcm.2008.04.001. PMID: 19646369; PMCID: PMC2686395.
Understanding the stress response. Harvard Health. (2024, April 3). https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response
