How To Cope With Our Greatest Stress

How To Cope With Our Greatest Stress
Today there are many different stresses but for most people, the majority of their stress comes from financial, family, health, work or school life. People may have a combination of these stresses or they may just have one aspect of their life that is stressful. In previous blogs, we have talked about how important it is to find some kind of stress management to help maintain a healthy lifestyle because physical, emotional and chemical stresses have a negative effect on the body and mind.

However, what if I told you that there is another stressor that is far greater than any of those options listed? This stressor is one that we can’t avoid but we can find ways to manage it. Any guesses so far? This stressor is known as gravity.

Gravity creates a great deal of stress on our body. It is constantly pulling us down whether you our conscious of it or not. Just think about it, when you drop something, no matter the weight, it will come crashing to the ground with force. Now imagine that force pushing on our body day in and day out.

We are about to enter a new season and with every new season, there is an opportunity for change. This school and Fall season, I challenge you to focus more on your physical awareness and health. Consciously do what you can to help improve any aspect of your physical health.

In this week’s blog we will list a few ways that you can help to improve your body’s internal stress levels against the greatest stressor there is, gravity:

Maintain good posture

Many people are not aware of their every day posture. Whether you are sitting behind a desk all day or are standing on your feet, it is important to be aware of your posture at all times. Maintaining proper posture is important for many reasons because posture affects and moderates every physiologic function in the body from breathing to hormonal production, spinal pain, headache, mood, blood pressure, pulse, lung capacity and more. These functions are easily influenced by posture.

Ideal posture also helps to keep your body in proper alignment to remain upright against gravity. When an individual’s head and shoulders come forward like in “tech neck”, added stresses are place on the neck and upper back causing unnecessary forces to those areas of the spine. Strain is placed on the nervous, skeletal and muscular systems and the nerves are not able to communicate with the brain as it once could. Over time, the spine starts to distort to this new posture and begins to lay down new bone in an attempt to survive in this new position. Discs start to get compressed and muscles are working harder than they’re designed to. Pain may or not be present with postural distortions.

Ideal posture consists of two views. From the front your head, shoulders and hips should all be level. You want to be centered over your feet meaning you are not twisted, tilted or shifted to one side. From the side your head, shoulders, hips and ankles should all line up. One region shouldn’t be in front or behind the other. In both views, refrain from locking your knees. Maintaining this posture can help to immediately reduce the stress that gravity puts on your body.

Maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle

Taking care of your body and mind is one of the best ways to deal with any stress. This includes: eating healthy foods, drinking enough water, exercising, stretching, and more. We all know the things that are good for our health; the important thing is finding time to do them. Incorporating a few healthy habits into your routine can make all the difference in your mental and physical health. In this situation, finding exercises and stretches that help to improve posture, core and back strength can help to increase the strength that your body has to fight against gravity. The stronger your core and back, the more ability your body has to maintain ideal posture against our greatest stressor.

Get corrective care chiropractic

We know what an ideal spine should look like. Through science and research, we know that the spine from the side should have healthy curves in it. These curves act as a shock absorber against gravity and when we lose this normal alignment, more stresses and strains are put on the spine and surrounding systems. The same happens if a person has scoliosis or a head tilt. As we mention above, from the front, the spine should be straight with no twists, tilts or shifts in the head, shoulders, or hips. If there are any deviations from normal, added stresses are placed on the spine and nervous system. Because the nervous system controls all the other systems, over time, disease may set in.

Correcting these postural abnormalities through postural awareness alone may be difficult as the body has already become used to this new posture. These spines need corrective care chiropractic to help remodel the spine back towards normal. It is possible and the best way to find one of these chiropractors is to visit www.idealspine.com and see who is certified in your area.

We face many different forms of stress each and every day, some more tangible than others. Gravity is a force that is constantly applying pressure to our lives so try the above tips to help reduce that pressure for a less stressful life.

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