A Magazine of People and
Possibilities
Stress Reduction and Healing
by Dr. Raj Rakhra
Stress is an unavoidable factor of our lives. It's almost impossible to live without some stress. But if stress gets out of control, it may harm your health, relationships, and also enjoyment in life. Stress is the emotional and physical strain caused by our response to pressure from the outside world. Common stress reactions include tension, irritability, inability to concentrate, and a variety of physical symptoms such as headache, increased heart rate and high blood pressure. These symptoms can rise from either physical and or psychological reasons. For some people, stress becomes almost a habit or addiction. Others are able to handle stress very well, and it has little impact on their emotional or physical health.
Although work, attachments and responsibilities create normal stress in daily living, excessive and prolonged stress can result in exhaustion and illness and may lead to more serious health issues. A San Francisco state university study states that eighty percent of health problems today are considered stress related. Repeated incidences of stress can aggravate numerous health conditions that include asthma, arthritis, allergies, atherosclerosis, cancer, colitis, IBS, diabetes, emphysema, gastritis, high cholesterol, hypoglycemia, neuromuscular disorders, high blood pressure and can increase the risk for stroke and heart attack. Stress also triggers destructive behavior, such as smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse. Whatever the cause of stress, our body responds physiologically to the stress in a very predictable manner. Chronic stress can suppress the immune system and increase susceptibility to cancer.
Almost all body functions and organs react to stress. The pituitary gland increases its production of (ACTH) hormone, and then in turn increases the release of cortisone and cortisole. This action can suppress the immune response. A complex physiological response is triggered called the fight and flight response. Under sudden stress, the body pumps out more hormones. We react and then our heart speeds up, blood flows to the brain and muscles increase many times more than normal. Your muscle tension increases and you breathe faster to bring more oxygen to your muscles. This reaction could save your life, for instance; you could jump away and save yourself from an out of control vehicle coming towards you when you are walking on a footpath. In most situations in modern life this response is not required, yet those stress hormones still flood your system. Today most of our stresses are not the result of physical threats, but the body still responds as if they were, preparing you for action as if you are under threat. The adrenal hormones are responsible for most of the symptoms. The hormones increase metabolism of protein, fats and carbohydrates to quickly produce energy, resulting in the excretion of amino acids, potassium and phosphorus and magnesium from muscles and then stores less calcium. Overall the body does not absorb ingested nutrients when under stress. Chronic and repeated stress causes the body to be deficient in many nutrients and then is unable to replace them adequately. Many of the disorders arise from the nutritional deficiencies of B vitamins which are very important for the functioning of the nervous system. Certain electrolytes are depleted by the body’s stress response. Anxiety, panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, phobic disorders are among the more serious emotional manifestations of stress. Stress may be the leading causes of death in heart disease and cancer.
How to Deal with stress:
There are so many ways to deal with stress depending on the advice of the practitioner and the need of the patient. It may simply mean changing the family or financial situation or going for prescription drugs for more serious and advance cases. I will mention some of the simple methods we encourage in our clinic.
Exercise on a regular basis helps to reduce the production of stress hormones and neuro chemicals. Exercise can help avoid damages to our health that prolonged stress can cause. In fact, studies have found that exercise is a potent antidepressant, it reduces or eliminates anxiety and sleep disorders. Simply walking will make you feel better. Meditation or breathing exercises are part of one branch of Ayurvedic medical science that has been practiced for centuries. The benefits of meditation and simple breathing exercises and other relaxation techniques on a non spiritual basis are well known in modern psychology and western medicine and have been scientifically verified in their effectiveness. Twenty to thirty minutes of breathing exercise sessions a day has a beneficial effect that decrease stressful conditions as well as having a lasting positive effect on your health.
Biofeedback training, guided Imagery, cognitive therapy and yoga are all very helpful tools to deal with acute or chronic stress. You just have to learn and practice them and make them part of your daily life style to receive long term benefits.
Diet and Nutrition - Nutrition assimilation is very much compromised in stressful conditions. Good wholesome, healthy nutritious food is very important. A fresh whole food diet is high in complex carbohydrates, moderate in protein and low in fat. Also, avoid simple sugars as well as excessive coffee, alcohol and other stimulants and drugs. Sugar should come in the form of fresh fruit and not from fruit juices. People with hypoglycemia are particularly vulnerable to stress and anxiety, keeping the desired level of blood sugar is critical.
Parenteral nutrient therapy / Myers modified cocktail
The beneficial effect of parenteral nutrient therapy has been confirmed by many clinical studies. It is used to alleviate symptoms of chronic muscular complaints, including myofascial pain, relapsing soft tissue injuries, and fibromyalgia. Intravenous Chelation Therapy EDTA/ DMPS is used to treat or detoxify heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and treat athrosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. This therapy works very well to alleviate angina pain.
Chronic or Acute pain is another cause of stress for many people. If your treatment is not helping or only helping you for a short period of time, then you need prolotherapy or Platelet rich plasma therapy. Our patients are very happy with the results.
Other helpful treatments are IM or Intravenous injections of magnesium, either alone or in combination with calcium, B vitamins, and vitamin C. We've seen improvement in seventy five percent of patients who may need only four or fewer injections. A minority of patients require long-term oral or parenteral magnesium to maintain improvement. The positive response to parenteral magnesium is consistent with the observation that nearly half of patients with fibromyalgia have intracellular magnesium deficiency, despite having normal serum. Our clinic provides B12 and B complex shots for stress, fatigue and anemia, phototherapy and PRP therapy for Injuries or joint pain and trauma. We also offer Myers Cocktail, IV nutrients support for optimal health by delivering vitamins and minerals directly to the cells. IV administration of nutrients can achieve serum concentrations not attainable with oral routes. Myers Cocktails have shown to improve conditions such as: asthma, migraines, fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, cardiovascular disease, respiratory infections, seasonal allergies, drug withdrawal, chronic hives, chronic viral infections such as hepatitis C and immune function. It also reduces anxiety, panic attacks and migraine headaches. Individual health conditions and goals determine which of these approaches are best.
Dr. Rakhra is a Naturopathic Physician, serving Calgary
for more than twenty years and practicing Complementary Medicine since 1964. He is a
Member of Alberta Association of Naturopathic Doctors. Dr. Rakhra's clinic is located at 121 - 14 Street North West in Calgary, Alberta. You
can reach his office at 403-270-7033. Visit his website at: www.aynh.com.
Read more articles by Dr. Rakhra Here.