First of all… What is stress? To be honest the word is probably thrown around too much with not enough of an understanding about what it actually is. Let’s get everyone on the same page first; We have 2 main branches of our autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). It is normal to hover between these 2 branches throughout the day, however the way in which this happens has changed quite a lot over the last 100 or so years.
Life was different a few 100 years ago and the types of stress we faced were very different, the kind os stresses back then would have been getting chased by an animal that wanted to eat us for dinner or cutting our leg on a rock which climbing cliffs in the jungle. Back then we spent most of our time predominantly living in our parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest), having short boosts from our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) when we needed to run from a lion or faced a stressful situation, however shortly after these stressful events we would to return back to our relaxed parasympathetic state. This is how our bodies have evolved to operate, although in todays world things are much different.
The world is evolving ever so quickly, how we spend our time now is much different to how we spent our time 100 years ago. Even in the last 20 years our lifestyles have changed hugely and specific to this topic - the types of stresses we experience today are hugely different too. Whats the thing that stresses you out the most? Work? Money? Family? People? Your own mind? Stress in todays world as I have come to understand it is experienced in 4 different forms; mental, emotional, physical and biochemical. In terms of the physiological response to each of these stresses - the body interprets each of them the same with a boost in sympathetic nervous system activity.
The big difference between these modern day stressors is that they are are coming from areas of our lives that are constant. If work stresses you out every time you go - you are more than likely there for several hours, 5 days of the week and therefore you can be guaranteed to experience stress every week.
When we are under stress for a short period of time it’s generally fine, it’s actually considered healthy as it can be a great catalyst for change and growth. However if we are to experience chronic stress for a prolonged period of time this is when problems can start to surface. When we spend too much time in “fight or flight mode” essentially what happens is our bodies ability to recover is significantly reduced. Our big pillars of recovery such as digestion and absorption of food, as-well as sleep become compromised. During chronic stress our bodies are negativity impacted in many other ways that occur as a flow on effect of this.
For the purpose of this discussion and keeping the topic on being in pain / getting out of pain - Ultimately the end outcome here is being in a physically and mentally fatigued, under performing state where we (amount many other symptoms) are unable to hold or move our bodies efficiently. Think of your posture when your feeling awesome verse when you are feeling exhausted - there is a huge change right. Even if this is happening on a subtle level there will be an impact on your ability to maintain posture.
When you cannot hold a good shape through your spine it is very common for excess stress to be placed in areas that are not built for it. When this is the case there are a number of issues that can begin to present themselves, including but not limited to; disc bulges, spinal or neural foramenal stenosis, sciatica, faced joint irritation etc.
Typically there is no magic bullet and more often than not, there are multiple reasons why someone is experiencing pain. This is why it's so beneficial to get a professional who understands this stuff inside and out to have a look and give you some advice.
If you get back pain - checkout my page that goes over 12 problems and solutions to back pain: https://www.customhealthcoaching.com/backpain
If you would like to create change and get out of pain for good - book in a free consultation with me and we create you a plan for success: https://www.customhealthcoaching.com/booknow
Have a fantastic day,
best regards,
Yonah Duniam - Custom Health Coaching
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