Chronic Stress

Guardian featured Harley Street IBS, Autoimmune & Skin Clinic addresses the underlying issues, not just the symptoms in the treatment for chronic stress (long term stress).

Stress is a factor in five out of the six leading causes of death — heart disease, cancer, stroke, lower respiratory disease, and accidents. An estimated 75 percent to 90 percent of all doctor visits are for stress-related issues. The culprit behind so many of our health problems is staring us in the face.

Understanding the mechanics of stress gives you the advantage of being more aware of and sensitive to your own level of stress and knowing when and how to take proactive steps.

• Your body doesn’t care if it’s a big stress or a little one.

The human body doesn’t discriminate between a BIG stress or a little one. Regardless of the significance, stress affects the body in predictable ways. A typical stress reaction, which most of us experience dozens of times each day, begins with a cascade of 1,400 biochemical events in your body. If these reactions are left unchecked we age prematurely, our cognitive function is impaired, our energy is drained, and we are robbed of our effectiveness and clarity.

• Stress can make smart people do stupid things.

Stress causes what brain researchers “cortical inhibition.” The phenomenon of cortical inhibition helps to explain why smart people do dumb things. Simply said, stress inhibits a small part of your brain and you can’t function at your best. When we are in coherence – a state where we are cognitively sharp, emotionally calm, and we feel and think with enhanced clarity – the brain, heart and nervous system are working in harmony. This state of coherence facilitates our cognitive functioning – we are actually operating at peak performance mentally, emotionally and physically.

• People can become numb to their stress.

We can be physiologically experiencing chronic stress yet mentally numb to it because we’ve become so accustomed to it. Some have become so adapted to the daily pressures, irritations and annoyances of life that it starts to seem normal. Yet the small stresses accumulate quickly and we may not realise how much they’re impairing our mental and emotional clarity and our overall health until it shows up as a bad decision, an overreaction or an unwanted diagnosis at the doctor’s office.

• We can control how we respond to stress

We don’t need to be victims to our own emotions, thoughts and attitudes. We can control how we respond to stress and we can become more sensitive to stressful situations and how they are affecting us before it manifests as a physical, mental or emotional complaint. There are simple, scientifically validated solutions to stress that empower people to rewire their own stress response.

• The best strategy is to handle stress in the moment

The best way to manage stress is to deal with it the very moment you feel it come up. Millions of people unsuccessfully use the binge-and-purge approach when it comes to stress. They stress out all day, believing that they can wait until later to recover when they go to an evening yoga class, go to the gym or chill out when they take the weekend off. Unfortunately, when we put off going for our own inner balance our bodies have already activated the stress response and it’s our health that suffers.

Our Non Pharmaceutical Treatment for Chronic Stress

Here at the Harley Street IBS and Autoimmune Clinic, we understand the deep impact that stress has at the root of many conditions we treat. We seek to address the damage stress has caused on the body, normalising nervous system and adrenal function. We also give non pharmaceutical treatment for anxiety, when necessary. This dual approach has proved very successful in restoring balance to people’s health, both physical and emotional/mental. Our chronic stress treatment addresses the whole person and not just the symptoms.

“I was finding it difficult to cope with the pressures at work. Even though I was exhausted, I was unable to sleep well … awake for 2-3 hours in the night. A colleague recommended Deborah, who gave me a “stress mix”. I can’t believe how different I feel, sleeping like a baby and much more energy.” -Eric, London

We also address any gut issues that are frequently experienced during chronic stress.

References

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