“Where does stress come from? What causes stress? Is it normal? Can I just be stress-free?” I’m sure many of you have had these questions come to mind when you feel at your max with stress. So is stress bad?
“This (stress response) is not a disease and it is not pathological – the chronically stressful environment is pathological, NOT the body’s response to it.” – Dr. James Chestnut
Stress can show up in many different ways caused by many different things. Research has found that stress can activate an inflammatory response in the brain as well as peripherally. Meaning stress can actually cause sickness and disease when in a chronic state. Inflammation has been known to wreak havoc on the nervous system. Your nervous system is broken down into your Central Nervous System (CNS) and your Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). Your CNS is composed of your brain, spinal cord, and neurons. Your PNS is made up of your nerves. The PNS is further broken down into Somatic and Autonomic and the Autonomic is then broken down into the Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Nervous system. Your parasympathetic nervous system is your ‘rest, digest, and breed’ state. We should be in this about 80% of the time. Our sympathetic nervous system is our ‘fight or flight, run from the bear’ state. We should be in this about 20% of the time.
So, why is all of this important? Because we are seeing more and more people stuck in a sympathetic state. The biggest cause of chronic disease is chronic stress! So, does chronic stress really harm your body? Researchers connect 75-90% of human diseases with chronic stress. Chiropractic founder DD Palmer spoke about the 3 T’s: Traumas, Toxins, and Thoughts. In today’s world, they relate to Physical, Chemical, and Emotional stress respectively. He believed that those three topics were the underlying cause of subluxation, or nerve interference. Physical stress could be improper biomechanics like sitting at a desk for long periods of time, or falls, car crashes. Chemical stress is the things you are putting in your mouth like over-processed and artificial foods, sugar, caffeine, etc. Emotional stress is the big one, this can be caused by job stress, financial struggle, depression, isolation, etc.
Here at Restoration Chiropractic, we focus on the nervous system and removing interference so that your brain and body can communicate the way it was intended to, and your body can heal and work towards balance.
At its source, any kind of stress poses a threat to homeostasis or balance. When something becomes out of balance, for instance, the repercussions of stress on your physical, chemical, and emotional health — your stress response scrambles to alleviate those stressors and restore balance. Proper spinal alignment is the first step to reducing stress. When the spine is misaligned, the nervous system is unable to properly send messages through the body. Better spinal alignment means better communication and improved system efficiency. While external actions matter, your body’s ability to respond and adapt to the environment matters more. From this viewpoint, chiropractic care identifies those interferences, reduces or removes them, and better enables the body to harness its innate powers to heal on its own. Essentially, health is your body’s ability to adapt.