STRESS
Do you ever think about how you could get rid of stress in your life? Have you ever thought that your body could be causing you unnecessary stress?
If you are overstressed, then you are probably wondering:
- How can I get rid of stress in my life?
- My life is great on paper, so why am I still stressed?
- How can chiropractic help stress?
Stress Response
Stress is a normal response in the body and causes your body to release the stress hormone cortisol.
Thousands of years ago our stress response was beneficial to increase our chances of survival.
In the modern world, we have our basic needs met, but we are still stressed for a number of reasons.
Short bursts of stress can be good for the body (such as exercise), but chronic stress is never good.
Research has shown that after patients received chiropractic adjustments, areas of the brain responsible for pain and stress were altered positively.
One widespread effect of chronic stress is muscle tension, which proper spinal alignment can help to alleviate.
Muscle tension can lead to irregular contractions of muscles and uneven pressure on joints leading to imbalances. This further exacerbates pain and stress.
Specific chiropractic adjustments focusing on correcting spinal alignment take pressure off the nervous system, activating the “parasympathetic” nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is the calming nervous system state where the body “rests and digests”. Activating this nervous system calms the “sympathetic” nervous system, which is the stress-driven state of the body.
Poor posture and bad spinal alignment contribute significantly to chronic stress and ‘sympathetic dominance’. This is due to the physical tension on the nervous system.
“When your body is in a sympathetic dominant state, your nervous system is constantly on high alert. One of the tell tale signs of sympathetic dominance is feeling ‘wired’ but ‘tired’.”
In this state, your body is unable to heal and repair at the optimum level, leading to cellular breakdown. This is where chiropractic comes in.
Not only do chiropractic adjustment help calm the sympathetic nervous system, but chiropractic adjustments also help to reduce stress by alleviating muscular tension. This is all accomplished without the overprescription of painkillers which tend to mask the cause rather than combating the underlying cause.
By helping calm your nervous system, the ‘sympathetic dominant’ state begins to become more balanced helping your body heal and repair naturally.
Here at NT Chiropractic Health & Wellness Centre, we focus on both helping alleviate your stress. We do this by helping you figure out why you are stressed in the first place. Our chiropractors will help you achieve both immediate stress relief and long-term stress relief through a focus on preventative corrective care.