Stress Relief: Natural Solutions to Stress Management

Stress comes in many forms, and does not always have to associate with family, work, deadlines, or finances (even though those are common causes of stress in our everyday life).  Stress is a physiological process. Stress is the hormonal response that is created when our body has a harder time performing regular tasks.

Stress can be caused from emotional, physical, nutritional, spiritual, social, and economic triggers. Even though we often think of stress as purely in our head, it can have significant effects on other areas of our health. Symptoms such as weight gain, infertility, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), amenorrhea (woman not having a monthly cycle), menopause, poor sleep quality, insomnia, muscle and joint pain, aggression, mood swings, premature aging, and oxidative stress have all been associated with stress responses in the body.

The American Psychological Association reports that “only 37 percent of Americans feel they are actually doing an excellent of very good job of managing their stress.” In other words, 63 percent of us are looking for a way to manage the daily stress response that floods our daily life.

When it comes to providing stress relief, identifying the cause, or trigger, that stimulates the stress response is essential.

Physical Stress Relief Through Chiropractic Care

Pain, muscle tightness, loss of balance, weakness, numbness, and arthritis can be cause for stress in many people. Whether the cause of the physical stress is due to a trauma, such as a car wreck, or a fall, or a repetitive stress injury such as poor posture, house cleaning, or throwing a baseball, physical stress symptoms can affect a variety of areas in our life.

Gentle and specific chiropractic care can help reduce the physical stress, regardless of the cause, by helping the structural integrity of the body to return to normal. As structural misalignments are corrected, and muscles are returned to their optimal function, aches, pains, weaknesses, and other symptoms are often improved.  When symptoms are improved, the overall stress load within the body also improves.

Chemical Stress Relief Through Diet and Nutrition

Inflammatory foods are one of the biggest causes to chemical stress in a symptomatic patient. A diet consisting of inflammatory foods can trigger hormonal imbalance, weight gain, pain, neuropathy, headaches, mood swings, autoimmunity, epilepsy, and a many other symptoms. Foods that contain gluten, casein, corn, soy, artificial sweeteners, trans fats and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have a higher tendency to create chemical stress in an individual. This is not to say that these foods are inflammatory in every situation, but these foods have been shown to increase symptoms in individuals that are already experiencing a stress response. Removing some, or all of these foods, can go a long way to help calm down the chemical stress response.

Emotional Stress Relief Through Supplementation

The best way to reduce the emotional stress that a person experiences, is to step back and slow down in order to prioritize our decisions. Many times we over extend ourselves and have obligations in too many places, or we stretch our budget farther than is possible. Putting things down on paper, creating a list, a budget, and then following it can help organize a stressed out individual.

For patients that have attempted to slow down, de-stress through organization, yet still feel like they are at the end of their rope, herbal supplementation can provide additional relief. Individuals that are under constant stress, but do not want to manage it with prescription medications, are finding the stress relief they need through natural products.

Stress Relief With Valerian

Valerian has been used as a sedative and calming agent since at least the ancient Roman and Greek times.  Hippocrates and Galen both described this herb for people that struggled with insomnia, but it is often used in the treatment of anxiety and stress as well. The National Institutes of Health even reports that in the 16th century it was used to treat nervousness, and in World War II, England used it to relief the stress of air raids. Valerian is occasionally used to assist individuals with digestive stress that present with irritable bowel syndrome, and abdominal cramping.

Passion Flower Also Helps With Stress Relief

Passion flower has also been shown to help individuals with stress relief. MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “passion flower is used for sleep problems (insomnia), gastrointestinal upset related to anxiety or nervousness, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and relieving symptoms related to narcotic drug withdrawal.” The MedlinePlus article also states, that “there is some evidence that passionflower can reduce symptoms of anxiety, sometimes as effectively as some prescription medications.”

Stressed out?!

Contact the doctors at The Hayden Institute for relief. Our Pearland office can be contacted by calling 832-273-5442, and our Northwest Houston (Cy-Fair) location can be reached by calling 832-704-9554.