How Chiropractic can support you in feeling calmer and more resilient to life’s daily stresses
Whether it’s exams and studying, job pressures or family life causing you stress the physiological response these things cause in your body is similar to when we were trying to evade saber toothed tigers. That’s because we’ve evolved to have very sensitive nervous systems that respond quickly to perceived threats to protect us from harm.
The primal brain looks out for anything it sees as a threat – a useful response in times where we needed to escape from predators – and sends a signal to the glands to chuck out a load of Adrenaline. This hormone quickly mobilises all your resources from the stuff you don’t need right now (guts and other organs) and puts all your energy into your bigger muscles. The big muscles in the upper body (arms and shoulders) get tight and ready to fight and the big muscles of the lower back and legs get tight ready to run. This is called fight or flight and is part of our survival mechanism.
It is normal to have stress responses like this: it’s part of our very clever evolution. The trouble is, that in the times we live in, these perceived threats are everywhere. Our nervous systems are overloaded with information. Heavy traffic, deadlines, mortgages, bills, kids, politics, exams, jobs, email and social media are constantly stimulating this response, meaning you never really get the recovery period your body needs to relax and let go of this tension. Chiropractic helps restore the function to the spine and nervous system, thus allowing you to be more resilient to life’s stresses.
There are three main types of stress and Chiropractic evaluates your individual exposure and resilience to these and provides solutions for managing them.
How Chiropractic helps with physical stress
Physical stress can start the day we are born; we often underestimate how traumatic being born is! It is commonplace for some medical procedure to be required in getting you safely delivered from your mother’s womb and this can impact delicate new human skeletons. Then of course, as a toddler you fall over constantly as part of your learning process. As a kid you fall off your bike every other day. As a teenager you then sit around on game consoles or phones all day. And then as an adult, you’re made to sit at a desk all day, often completing repetitive tasks.
Chiropractic can detect and correct the vertebral misalignments (subluxations) which cause pressure on the nerves and affect the postural muscles, so that your posture improves. It is helpful if these are detected at an early age, but can they be corrected at any time of life.
How Chiropractic helps with chemical stress
The air that you breathe and the food and drink that you consume all contribute to the chemical pool of your body. Pollution, pesticides and heavy metals add to the toxic load on your body. Then you may be prescribed medication for some dysfunction appearing in your body, such as pain or high blood pressure.
Many chemicals are neurotoxins, meaning they can cause tension in the nervous system; leading to tension in the spine and the rest of the body. Detecting and correcting vertebral malalignments can release the spine and nerve tension, restoring health to the nerves which can aid the body’s natural detoxification process.
How Chiropractic helps with emotional stress
Emotional stress is very common and begins in the brain. The brain is connected to the rest of the nervous system, comprising of the brain stem, spinal cord and about 47 miles of nerves, which supplies the entire body. It’s no wonder then that emotional stress can be manifested physically. Most of us at some time feel overwhelmed and are trying to spin many plates just to keep everything balanced.
Dealing with emotional issues here in the West seems to be a bit of a taboo subject and so many people don’t ask for help. They will tend to use chemicals (a stressor in itself) like caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, food and TV to temporarily escape. In the East, they look at it differently. They do Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Yoga, meditation, etc. and believe in looking after the mind, body and spirit. We need to start seeing it this way!
Chiropractic can help by restoring the spinal and therefore nerve function, improving the pathway from the brain to the body and vice versa. Many people say they feel more relaxed and able to deal with the daily life of the 21st century with chiropractic care
It’s our mission to support you in realigning and strengthening your brain-body connection. You can find our small expert team and empowered community in West Malling, Kent. We do chiropractic a little bit differently. Book your space now on one of our FREE talks to see how chiropractic can help you and your family.
