
I talk about three main kinds of stressors in our lives: physical, chemical, and mental. Mental is pretty all encompassing. Think emotional, financial, relationships, jobs, etc as being a part of this type of stress. I want to focus on the impact of your emotional stressors on your health.
Side note: if you have never heard of German New Medicine, I highly highly recommend looking into it. The main premise of it is that every symptom of the body is the result of an emotional conflict. There is quite the rabbit hole of information to be had there, so take your time in learning and absorbing the information that GNM has to offer.
Maybe it comes as no surprise to you that emotions can be stressful. But do you know just how much of an impact it can have on your health? I will ask clients when they come in complaining of xyz symptom how their stress levels are. Very often they will be describing something very physical that is occurring - migraines, digestive issues, difficulty sleeping, stiff lower back, etc - and through our conversation I will find out that oh, their in-laws are in town, or that they are having some conflict in their marriage, or that they just found out about an unexpected bill that is due, and so on. These other emotionally-stressful events will be triggering a physical response in their body. So while maybe one night recently they did "sleep wrong" or had some other physical stress occur, like heavy lifting or yardwork, in my mind the likely culprit of their physical symptoms are their emotional stressors.
How do you resolve the emotional stress? It's tough! Especially if the stress is involving other people in your life. The biggest thing that YOU can work on is your emotional resiliency. No, this isn't a tough it out situation, or sweep things under the rug so you don't have to address it. Emotional resiliency comes in when you recognize your emotions, acknowledge your emotions, and figure out what thoughts are triggering those emotions in the first place. Awareness of your self is a key piece to emotional resiliency. Taking the time to sit with your self and actually ponder what it is going on. This isn't a luxury, for those of you who are saying you don't have the time to do this. If you don't take the time now, it is only going to further compound itself down the road. Be aware of your emotions, be aware of your thoughts, and be aware of how this affects your actions.
A chiropractic adjustment isn't going to magically remove your emotional stressors (and as much as I'd like to say I wish I could, I know that there is growth to be found in moving through stress and that is a good thing for you!). What chiropractic care IS going to do in times of emotional stress is impact the way your brain receives and sends information about the stressor. Research shows changes in brain function in an area called the prefrontal cortex after a chiropractic adjustment. This area is largely responsible for things like planning, decision making, executive function, and personality. If we can positively impact this area of the brain during a time of stress, it is going to positively impact how YOU show up in your life. It isn't going to take away the pain of the heavy and hard emotions, but it will hopefully help that emotional resiliency of yours to continue to show up, even when the going gets tough.
And know that at the end of the day, I am always willing to lend a listening ear to whatever is going on. Sharing the burden can be incredibly therapeutic when life has put a lot of emotional stress on your plate.
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