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October 2020 Newsletter

ELECTION TIME…

ARE YOU "STRESSED"?

The Definition of Stress

Lazarus and Folkman, researchers in the study of stress, define stress as “a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his/her resources and endangering his/her well-being”. This quote comes directly from their book, Stress, Appraisal, and Coping.

Acute stress from a threat, such as avoiding a motor vehicle accident, hearing some bad news, or physical injury to your body, results in your nervous system responding by triggering the “STRESS RESPONSE”. This involves both the central (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral (anything else) nervous systems. The main parts of the brain that respond to stress include the amygdala, hypothalamus, pituitary and prefrontal cortex. The parts of the peripheral nervous system that respond to stress include the autonomic nervous system and somatic nervous system (organs and muscles).

The autonomic nervous system is the autonomous control center of physical responses to stress and is driven by the hypothalamus (in the brain) as well as the adrenal glands (sit just on top of the kidneys and release epinephrine and cortisol). There are two parts to the autonomic nervous system: the sympathetic nervous system, AKA the “Fight or Flight” response, and the parasympathetic nervous system or “Rest, Relax, Digest and HEAL” response.

The amygdala regulates the autonomic nervous system and interprets situations, thoughts, and events as potentially threatening and then sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is the communication center with the rest of the body in times of stress and gets the autonomic nervous system activated to respond with the fight or flight response. Unfortunately, if stress persists, then the same response that is healthy in times of acute threat happen over and over giving an altered stress response - defined as chronic stress.

Chronic Stress

With chronic stress, regulatory mechanisms in the brain and body become dysfunctional. The central nervous system stops efficiently regulating the responses. Specific brain areas start having issues that cause anxiety and depression symptoms. Finally, there are systemic effects like dysfunction of the organs (examples: high blood pressure and digestion issues) and muscular system which cause physical pain. The longer chronic stress lasts, the amygdala physically gets larger in size and becomes more reactive to stress responses while the prefrontal cortex (the front of the brain) actually shrinks in size and the result is decreased reasoning to stress responses and limited higher brain function. In fact, the American Medical Association reports chronic stress as the #1 proxy killer disease and the basic cause of more than 60% of all human illness and disease.

How do you know if you are stressed? A great book by Stanley Rosenberg called Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve, explains ways to determine if the physical body is stressed with great self-help exercises for anxiety, depression, trauma and autism.

Humans need acute stress responses but how do you fix chronic stress? The simple answer is to MANAGE stress...HEAL Wellness and Therapy follows the Five Pillars to Stress Management:

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is so important for stress management that it deserves the first pillar! What is Mindfulness? According to Dan Harris, writer of 10% Happier, it is “to know what is happening in your head at any given moment without being carried away by it and it is definitely the next health revolution!” 

Research on mindfulness is growing every year and what we know is that the brain is positively affected with a regular practice of mindfulness. In fact, mindfulness shrinks the areas of the brain responsible for stress responses (amygdala) and grows the areas of the brain responsible for reasoning (prefrontal cortex). In this research, the more mindful a person is, the less active the amygdala’s response to the stress response. 

So, where to start? Here are a few videos to work on stress management through breathing, mindfulness and dealing with the vagus nerve, one of the key nerves that supplies our organs and reacts to the stress response from the brain.

Please enjoy!
Live Therapeutic Yoga Class where we focus on stress relief from a sitting position from the October 13, 2020 Stream
Live Therapeutic Yoga Class for Anxiety from the July 21, 2020 Stream
Live Therapeutic Yoga Class from the April 02, 2020 Stream
A short video to describe and talk through performing the 4:7:8 breath for relaxation.
Nadi Shodhana pranayama or alternate nostril breathing is a breathing yoga practice that uses balancing the breath on the left and right sides of the body to create focus of the mind, relax the body and calm the autonomic nervous system. “Nadi” is a Sanskrit word meaning “channel” or “flow” relating to the energy channels in the subtle body and Shodhana means “to purify”. This breathing practice can be performed anywhere and anytime with no contraindications. The main benefits of the practice of alternate nostril breathing include infusing the body with oxygen, supporting clear and balanced respiratory channels, clearing and releasing toxins (don’t be surprised if your nose is runny after performing this), reducing stress and anxiety, calming and rejuvenating the nervous system, improving mental clarity, enhancing the ability to concentrate, and bringing balance to the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
Connect with Others

Connection and community are very important and the fifth pillar to a healthy life and stress management  Please join me virtually every Tuesday or Thursday @ 10am for Therapeutic Yoga class. If you do not already receive email invites for these classes, just email healwellnessandtherapy@gmail.com and you will be added to the distribution list. If the time for class does not suit your schedule, feel free to check out the many therapeutic yoga classes located on our YouTube channel or from our website blog.
Latest Videos
Live Therapeutic Yoga Class for Weight Loss from the Oct 06, 2020 Stream
Live Therapeutic Yoga Class for Diabetes from the October 08, 2020 Stream
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Thank you and  Namaste ,
Trudy Messer
Founder, HEAL Wellness and Therapy, LLC
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Paul Quilty Paul Quilty

Chair Yoga for Energy (Therapeutic Yoga Class)

Live Therapeutic Yoga Class from the comforts of your favorite chair that will help give you energy from the October 15, 2020 Stream.

Thanks for watching and please remember to subscribe!

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