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Posted by wthn-acupuncture Admin on
We are living through unprecedented times. For the first time in 100 years, the world is at a standstill because of a highly infectious virus that doctors and researchers are struggling to defeat. Many of us are experiencing the death of loved ones, job loss and social isolation.
A survey by the American Psychological Association found that the coronavirus global pandemic has severely altered every aspect of our lives and could cause long-lasting negative mental health issues.
Scary! We know.
The stress we’re all experiencing during this crisis can have a seriously harmful effect on your overall health. People who suffer from chronic stress often have persistent headaches, suffer from insomnia, are depressed and feel fatigued + irritable. During this time of high stress, we want to give you some tips on how to better manage your stress + get back to feeling like you.
To understand why you feel terrible when you’re stressed, we need to explain how stress works in your body. Let’s say you’re in a potentially stressful situation, like you’re walking home with bags of groceries and suddenly the handle of one of the bags snaps, spilling your produce on the street (not earth-shattering, but definitely not fun).
Your hypothalamus, a part of your brain that releases hormones, begins to set off alarm bells through your nervous system. The nervous system has two parts — the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. If your body was a car, the sympathetic nervous system would be the gas pedal, activating the ‘fight or flight’ response by releasing a surge of adrenaline. That’s why you sometimes feel like your heart will jump out of your chest when you fall or get a fright. Adrenaline gives you a boost of energy by increasing your heart rate and blood pressure.
When the brain believes the stressful situation has passed, it begins to take the foot off the gas and starts tapping the brake, AKA the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system releases cortisol (the stress hormone), which helps calm the body down. Cortisol spikes your blood sugar and releases substances to repair tissue.
Once the perceived danger has passed — you’ve picked up your mangos and shifted them to another bag — your hormone levels go back to normal. But let’s say you’re always a little stressed out. Your body is perpetually in a response state, pumping out adrenaline and cortisol, which is not good. People who suffer from chronic stress often experience:
Fortunately, there are many ways to relieve stress. While there are many pharmacologic options available, which require a prescription from a doctor, those can have serious side effects. Many natural methods have been found to have similar effects as medication, as well as being a generally healthy option for managing and preventing stress.