Emotional Stress: How Chronic Emotional Stress Can Ruin Your Health

 

Photo Credit:http://blueskyportland.com

What's the most powerful step you can take to dramatically improve your health?

My answer is this:
Learn how to effectively manage emotional stress

All of my clinical and personal experiences over the years have me convinced that no other factor has more influence over your health. 

Not diet, not exercise, not even how much you sleep. 

Why is emotional stress is one of the most significant causes of all chronic health challenges? 

Because your body cannot defend itself against the damage that emotional stress quietly creates over time. Your body pays a heavy physiological price for every moment that you feel anxious, tense, frustrated, and angry. 

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Crying Can Help Relieve Stress, But for Optimal Health You Need Better Stress-Relieving Tools

'The connections between stress and physical health are undeniable. Studies have found links between acute and/or chronic stress and a wide variety of health issues, including:

Lowered immune system function
Heightened inflammatory response
Increased blood pressure and cholesterol levels
Altered brain chemistry, blood sugar levels and hormonal balance
Increased risk of cancer and increased tumor growth1

The video above brings up another biological reaction associated with stress: crying.2 Interestingly, tears that are shed due to an emotional response, such as sadness or extreme happiness, contain a high concentration of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) — a chemical linked to stress.' 

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Needle This: Study Hints at How Acupuncture Works to Relieve Stress

 

Photo Credit: The Beauty Brains

 Acupuncture May Relieve Chronic Stress

'A new animal study showed that rats pre-treated with acupuncture had no spike in stress-associated hormones after being exposed to chronic stress.¹ On the contrary, rats that received no treatment or a sham acupuncture treatment had higher levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) along with other stress hormones.

It is the constant increase in stress hormones that is associated with many of the health problems linked to chronic stress, such as depression, insomnia and anxiety. In stressed animals that received acupuncture, stress hormone levels were similar to those in the control animals that were not under chronic stress, which suggests the ancient healing modality helps to normalize stress hormone levels.

Interestingly, the acupuncture point used in the study was a point on the stomach, which may work by tapping into the gut-brain connection.'

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