Stress

Stress. Everyone thinks it just means those times when everything seems too rushed or out of control. The kids are crying, the boss is yelling, the clients are threatening to leave, the lines of traffic...these are all stress inducing situations.

- Get Your Own

As a result of stress, the body reacts by increasing the production of certain hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol. These chemicals help the body deal with stress. The thing is that the way our lifestyles are these days, we are unable to do anything to dissipate the stress and get rid of the chemicals. An animal in the wild when under stress such as being chased by a predator will shake for awhile (if not caught) to release the stress from their bodies. The flight or fight reaction guides their bodies.

We internalize all of our stress. Your muscles respond to stress by contracting to prepare for the attack. They tighten and constrict veins, arteries and nerves. That puts more pressure on the heart. Someone with low cholesterol and high stress has just as much, if not more of a chance of heart problems because of the extra pressure on the heart to pump more blood when the circulation is restricted due to muscle tension.

The muscle contraction may also cause problems of it's own...strains/sprains, repetitive strain syndromes, herniated discs, back and neck pain.

It is a wonder we can even walk or function at all under all of this stress.

We are stuck in the flight or fight mode until we do something to release that stress. Movement, exercise and massage rate high on the list of reducing these stressors.

Massage can help relax tight muscles and teach you to be more aware of when they are starting to contract and build up tension. Awareness is one of the first steps in working toward making changes in you lifestyle.