Stress and Your Body

Anyone who has ever been under large amounts of stress (and let’s face it, who hasn’t) will tell you that it stinks. While some of us handle stress better or worse than others, it is never fun. It can do horrible things to your body and it can become a vicious cycle that seems to have no end. Here are a couple of examples of things that stress can do to you.
1. Sleep. Sleep is a glorious thing, if you can get it. Stress can keep us up at night and make it difficult to get a full night of restful, restorative sleep. Due to our possible lack of sleep, we may end up gaining some weight and this can also cause pain in our joints. The lack of sleep means that our bodies cannot decompress and so our muscles and joints remain stiff and painful. At night, try to push as much from your mind as possible and wait to deal with what is stressing you out until the next day.
2. Stomach. You know that feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach when you are super stressed? This is more severe in some of us than others, but for many it causes stomach issues. No, I don’t mean ulcers, as it was proven that ulcers are caused by a bacterium. Stress, however, can mess with our stomachs and our digestion in many different ways. Some people stress eat, while others stress starve. Others still eat worse food while stressed because “comfort food” is something that makes us feel better while it’s going down but maybe not so much once we step back on the scale. Others may end up with diarrhea due to severe amounts of stress. Try paying attention to what and how you eat next time you are stressed to see what kind of stress eater you are.
3. Tension. As humans, when we are experiencing a strong emotion such as sadness, fear, or anger, we hold tension in different parts of our bodies. Stress is no different. Try and relax your limbs when you realize this is happening.
Stress stinks. If you are stressed, try coming down to Wirth Chiropractic and get an adjustment to help reduce the problems stress can cause on your joints. Take a couple of deep breaths and try to relax. We want you to stay healthy.