The Body, Stress and Anxiety
. . . overreaction to small, apparently minor mishaps
Stress is a difficult term to define. A certain amount of stress is essential as it provides impetus and motivation to perform everyday tasks. Yet frequently we hear about excessive stress and its prevalence in modern life. Osteopaths believe that the mind and body are inextricably linked. Therefore, it follows that factors which affect us mentally must also affect us physically.
This can be seen in people's everyday appearance; the furrowed brow, hunched shoulders, flushed complexion, the person who 'carries the weight of the world on his shoulders' and the overreaction to small, apparently minor mishaps. The stressed person may complain of frequent headaches, an inability to relax, irregular sleeping patterns, tiredness and general poor health.
Stress leads to tension in muscles, particularly in the neck and shoulders, leading to generalised stiffness and headaches. It also affects our internal systems; the human nervous system is essentially split into two parts which should work in harmony to maintain health. The parasympathetic nervous system is at work when we are relaxed and is mainly responsible for the so-called rest and digest activities, such as bodily repair and digesting food. The sympathetic nervous system is involved with 'fight or flight' activities. When this predominates, the heart rate increases, our ability to digest food reduces and our airways expand, all in an effort to prepare us for danger. Evolutionarily speaking this was essential to briefly provide us with the energy to avoid potentially fatal situations.
In the modern Western world, such threats to our existence are generally no longer present, however our bodies react as though they were.
Prolonged stress means that:
• food is not digested properly, adversely affecting nutrition and possibly leading to diarrhoea or constipation
• heart rate and blood pressure increase for prolonged periods, increasing the potential for damage to the body's arteries which may lead to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes
• breathing may become shallow and rapid. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our lungs becomes impaired and our bodies consequently work less well
• the immune system's effectiveness reduces. Your immune system is constantly working, clearing up your body's waste products and fighting infections you never knew you had. In a stressed person, this operates less well. The individual becomes 'run down' and starts to pick up regular, niggling sniffles and colds which won't go away
• as the over stimulation of the nervous system continues, its threshold reduces, meaning that only a small stimulus may produce a disproportionally stressed reaction.
Whilst aspects of stress are a normal part of life, it's easy for this to creep up on the individual without them realising.
An osteopath will consider all aspects of the pain you are suffering, including any maintaining factors, such as stress and take this into consideration when devising a treatment plan to minimise the risk of your pain returning.
This can be seen in people's everyday appearance; the furrowed brow, hunched shoulders, flushed complexion, the person who 'carries the weight of the world on his shoulders' and the overreaction to small, apparently minor mishaps. The stressed person may complain of frequent headaches, an inability to relax, irregular sleeping patterns, tiredness and general poor health.
Stress leads to tension in muscles, particularly in the neck and shoulders, leading to generalised stiffness and headaches. It also affects our internal systems; the human nervous system is essentially split into two parts which should work in harmony to maintain health. The parasympathetic nervous system is at work when we are relaxed and is mainly responsible for the so-called rest and digest activities, such as bodily repair and digesting food. The sympathetic nervous system is involved with 'fight or flight' activities. When this predominates, the heart rate increases, our ability to digest food reduces and our airways expand, all in an effort to prepare us for danger. Evolutionarily speaking this was essential to briefly provide us with the energy to avoid potentially fatal situations.
In the modern Western world, such threats to our existence are generally no longer present, however our bodies react as though they were.
Prolonged stress means that:
• food is not digested properly, adversely affecting nutrition and possibly leading to diarrhoea or constipation
• heart rate and blood pressure increase for prolonged periods, increasing the potential for damage to the body's arteries which may lead to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes
• breathing may become shallow and rapid. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our lungs becomes impaired and our bodies consequently work less well
• the immune system's effectiveness reduces. Your immune system is constantly working, clearing up your body's waste products and fighting infections you never knew you had. In a stressed person, this operates less well. The individual becomes 'run down' and starts to pick up regular, niggling sniffles and colds which won't go away
• as the over stimulation of the nervous system continues, its threshold reduces, meaning that only a small stimulus may produce a disproportionally stressed reaction.
Whilst aspects of stress are a normal part of life, it's easy for this to creep up on the individual without them realising.
An osteopath will consider all aspects of the pain you are suffering, including any maintaining factors, such as stress and take this into consideration when devising a treatment plan to minimise the risk of your pain returning.