HealthWise

The word stress is used to describe both external events that make demands on us, and the internal responses they trigger.

Necessary Stress - moderate amounts of stress can be stimulating, challenging and help boost performance. Too much of it or for too long can damage your health.

Stressful life experiences range from trivial everyday annoyances to major life altering crises.

Stress can be caused by any number of factors - changes in your life, either good or bad personal problems, lack of sleep or overwork.

Whether or not an event causes stress depends less on what the event is, than on how you feel you can cope with it. A small problem you are powerless to resolve may cause far more stress than a big issue that you know you can deal with.

Our response is often to deny the pressure and ignore the physical signs of stress. If the symptoms and causes of stress are left untreated they will affect your general health, and can even lead to illness such as ulcers, heart attacks and depression. It is important to start tackling the problem at an early stage before illness occurs.

De-stressing requires a positive plan for learning how to cope and retain a balanced outlook on life.

If more than a few of the following symptoms have affected you recently, you may be under stress

• Disturbed Sleep.
• Unexplained feelings of anxiety.
• Indigestion, diarrhoea or constipation.
• Eating more or less than usual.
• Tension in the neck or shoulders.
• Waking up tired.
• Irritability, tearfulness, or sudden mood changes.
• Feeling that you are unable to cope.
• Continual aches, pains and minor aliments.
• Muscle Tics.
• Carelessness or being accident prone.
• Withdrawal from other people.
• Dry mouth or throat.
• Generally worrying about your health.

Many therapies can help to relax the mind as well as the body leaving you feeling calm and ready to cope.

Wholistic therapies can help with many of the problems associated with stress, they can work on the physical problems such as muscular tension which commonly occurs when stress makes the nervous system overactive. Other therapies such as Bush Flower Essence Therapy work on the emotional side effects of stress.

Naturopathy

When people are feeling well, energetic and happy, they can deal with stress much more effectively and use it to boost their performance but when people are unwell they often can become powerless against the onslaught of stress and end up not being able to cope with life itself.

Stress is a major contributing factor in many health problems. Stress can exist in a number of different forms - emotional, mental and physical and all can have dramatic effects on health. Nauropathy can break this cycle as it treats the root cause of the illness in a totalistic, wholistic and individualistic manner. It does not treat superficially by driving away the symptoms but heals the person from within which is the best form of healing.

A consultation with a Naturopath can help discover the cause of the stress and assist with managing it.

It is not always possible to remove the causes of stress, however by improving the bodies ability to cope with stress we can reduce the effect it has on us.

Diet and lifestyle changes can assist in managing stress. In many cases poor diet can increase the effect stress has on the body.

All aspects of stress can be managed by making changes, in conjunction with the use of supplements such as:

Herbal medicines e.g. Chamomile, Passionflower, Feverfew and Skullcap; Vitamins and Minerals e.g. magnesium and potassium; Homoeopathic remedies and Bush flowers.

Acupuncture & Massage Therapy

Chinese medicine has a deep understanding of how stress impacts on the body, it drew connections between stress and health long before stress had first become topical in our society.

There are different types of stress, the sort that makes you angry impacts differently upon your health than the type that accompanies grief, worry, anxiety or fear. Acupuncture has different and effective ways of treating all the manifestations of stress. In acupuncture there is no border between what are physical symptoms and what are psychological symptoms, one can lead to and/or worsen the other.

Acupuncture can be made to work on several levels at once. People are often surprised how such seemingly unrelated problems such as worry, stomach upset and knee pain can improve simultaneously, or a skin condition, dizziness, asthma and feelings of sadness can be likewise connected. Stress is not viewed as an unnatural occurrence, a moderate amount of stress helps us to realise our potential. Acupuncture can help us to cope with stress - so, whether stress in your life leaves you with no energy during the day or keeps you awake at night, acupuncture can help you.

Acupuncture in this clinic is performed in conjunction with massage therapy, making the treatment more effective. All needles used are TGA approved disposable.

Other Relaxation Techniques to try

Meditation, Yoga, Aromatherapy and Creative Visualisation can help many people. You need to find out what things help you deal with stress. What helps someone else may not work for you.

Pressures at Work can cause plenty of stress

• If your boss or your workload is getting you down, try these relaxation tricks:
• Make sure you take a lunch break - every working day.
• Learn to be less than perfect.
• Take a walk each day - this is a great de-stresser.
• Put things into perspective - will it really matter in five years, or even next week.
• Keep a sense of humour.