Stress Management & Anxiety

My philosophy of stress management to control anxiety is to bring your body to its ultimate vitality so that it can more easily withstand the stresses of everyday life. I also emphasize techniques to help you cope with stress as you encounter it. I typically give patients physical exercises, breathing exercises and an improved way of fueling the body that will accomplish this goal. How much benefit you derive from these tools depends mostly on the amount of time and effort you put into them. This is your chance to use some simple, effective techniques to make huge improvements in the way you feel.

There are those of you who may benefit more from an evaluation and tune-up before these techniques can be fully beneficial. If you have one or more chronic injuries, rib muscle spasms, etc, you may not be able to perform some of these exercises until those underlying problems are resolved. In that case, I urge you to consult with me for a short period so we can get you back into balance and moving in a positive direction toward more vitality.

To successfully achieve stress management, we must identify or define what stress is. Simply put, stress is imbalance within body, heart, mind and/or spirit. Restoration of balance within each area leads to decreased negative effects of stress.

For example, a person exercising too intensely (anaerobic, high heart rate exercise styles to the exclusion of appropriate low heart rate aerobic style exercise) can cause repetitive overuse syndromes with symptoms of fatigue, pain, loss of flexibility and compromised immune function, not to mention an unhealthy craving for sugar to replace the glycogen stores depleted from excessive anaerobic exertions. Whereas a person using appropriate guidelines and a heart rate monitor will feel refreshed, relaxed, mentally clear and emotionally happy by stimulating the aerobic processes during mild aerobic, lower heart rate exercise.

An example of nutritional stress is the lack of appropriate good fats in the diet. In our society, we have become fat phobic to our detriment, incorrectly assuming that eating fat makes us "fat". Good fats such as extra virgin olive oil and cold water fish oils (salmon, halibut, sardines, etc.) provide omega fatty acids used by our bodies for many vital functions. This includes the production of anti-inflammitory prostaglandins. They help control the metabolism in the body in various ways. Also, they are natures premier "aspirin". So you can see, by limiting good fats in the diet, you are promoting inflammation in your body and making yourself dependent on synthetic drugs that are dangerous. Few people realize this, but more Americans (>40,000) die each year from gastrointestinal bleeding from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (aspirin, Tylenol, Aleve etc.) use than died in the Vietnam war. These drugs are not to be taken lightly. They are not the benign therapy most assume. The risks are real. The good news is that nature had a safe, effective nutritional answer to fight inflammation long before these drugs came along. If you suffer from pain/inflammation, a more logical approach would be to identify and heal the cause, rather than defer proper care with symptom blocking chemicals with dangerous consequences.

An example of neurological balance in the body can be illustrated with blood pressure controls. Blood pressure is the result of balance between the excitation and inhibition of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight responses) . With adequate cortical neruonal activity, the brain dampens (inhibits) the sympathetic system to maintain normal blood pressure. When the cortical output drops, blood pressure rises, sometime to pathologic levels, increasing risk of stroke and heart attack. Cortical output is dependent on sensory input, primarily from mechanoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors are special nerve endings in muscles and joints that sense motion and gravitational forces on our bodies. The more we move (exercise appropriately) the more we wake up our brains with good sensory input, enabling the motor output controls from the brain to easily control blood pressure within safe limits.

An example of mental balance can be illustrated with excessive thoughts keeping you focused on the past or the future. The only time in which you can truly be effective is NOW. The mind easily gets stuck in guilt (the past) and fear (the future). By focusing on your breathing and being in the present moment, you can be more creative and enjoy the fruits of your creativity much more. The emotional/mental stress release technique I teach is an effective tool to help center those who are overwhelmed, without having to deal with tranquilizers or other mood altering chemicals (and their negative side effects).

An example of spiritual balance is seen with a person committed to following their bliss. When following your heart, or as some say, your higher self, you will intuitively know you are on your path. When deviating off this path, for whatever reason, you will have a sense of being unfulfilled or longing for something more deeply satisfying. One of life's biggest challenges is figuring out what our path is; what we came here to accomplish. True satisfaction comes from achieving this. Sometimes life changes must be made to achieve this (change in relationships, location of your home base, career, new hobbies, learning something new youšve always had an interest in, volunteer work, etc.) Remember, courage is always greatly rewarded. To fully appreciate these rewards, you need to take the risk of changing your life to better suit you as a spirit.

Disclaimer:  The information contained herein is for research purposes only and should not be construed as medical recommendations for any disease or symptom. It is not intended to provide medical advice.