Stress & Anxiety

The terms anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, burnt out are all terms we use so frequently to describe our stressful everyday lives and how that makes us feel.

Integrating yoga, running, or journaling there are so many ways to counteract stress and finding a hobby can be very helpful if it is part of your everyday life. How do anxiety and stress go hand in hand? Well first let me define these terms for you. The National Cancer Institute defines stress as “In medicine, the body’s response to physical, mental, or emotional pressure.” They also define anxiety as “feelings of fear, dread, and uneasiness that may occur as a reaction to stress.” These terms are defined by the scientific study of it but from what we know in Chinese medicine is that internally it affects our body’s chi and flow of circulation.

Too much stress will disturb your shen or spirit in the body. Having an overload of stress in the body then becomes acid-forming and will weaken the immune system. The body should never have too much acid or that’s when problems happen so having an alkaline body is the goal. As we learned about yin and yang and what we know about balance we see that stress happens and anxiety is a root cause of it. The cause and effect or yin/yang idea of stress is that if there isn't balance and the scale is more one-sided that is when it can become troublesome in our body.

Stress is always used in a negative connotation but how we deal with it internally will matter the most. Many people who work in the city and have highly stressful jobs cope fairly well and have bearable amounts of stress. Chronic stress from outside forces every day will be the stress our bodies can’t digest thoroughly because it is constant. What stress looks on one person is not the same for someone who internalizes it and lets it become stagnated in the body.

Dealing with stress can affect the heart, liver, spleen, and kidney. The blood also changes the qi with excess stress in the body and then cortisol levels also become affected. There are so many other ways stress affects the body internally more than we know. Having a stressed stomach as I call it where your body feels so anxious and overwhelmed that it makes it hard to eat is due to a constant state of stress and can lead to bowel movement issues. Stress can also deplete vitamins in your body such as B vitamins and makes your body unable to metabolize nutrients properly even if your diet is highly nutritious.

The other side of stress is linked to anxiety I believe anxiety can be a learned trait or passed down from generations that may be caused by past triggers. Sometimes you can’t cope with anxiety and it all feels very overwhelming and that’s when you need to step in and listen to your body. Being in quarantine and dealing with covid had brought to light health issues people had no idea they had and never knew were there.

What do we do when an anxiety attack strikes or what does it feel like when it happens? To me, it was a rapid heartbeat and feeling like I was having a heart attack but scary for someone who had never experienced this in their life. Sitting on the floor putting your head between your legs or getting some fresh air could be helpful but there are also some good homeopathic remedies to calm you when you feel anxiety coming on. Anxiety will cause your body to have a jing qi deficiency which is disharmony in the body. Jing deficiency is what leads to premature aging and it shows up in your face and greying of the hair. Causes of anxiety and stress can be from jobs, personal life, money issues, health issues, or triggers in one's life. The effects can be long-term if they aren’t managed from the start. Here are some ways to manage stress through herbs and supplements that can help you rebuild your body from excess stress.

Places we hold stress that we don’t realize:

• Teeth Clenching

• Stomach in Knots

• Grinding teeth in sleep

• Holding tension in certain areas of your body

Ways to manage stress:

• Meditation

• Massage & with added benefits integrate CBD cream

• Acupuncture

• Breath-work

• Yoga

• Taking a walk

• Getting fresh air

• Sound Baths

• Reading a book

• Journaling

• Limit caffeine intake

• Staying Active

• Talking it out

*when reducing stress make sure you are staying away from overstimulation and let your body relax. Keep away from video games, online shopping, reading news, and watching television.

Herbs/Supplements:

• B5

• Siberian Ginseng

• Ashwagandha

• Holy basil

• Chaga (extreme stress)

• Cordyceps

• Astragulus

• Licorice Root

• Turmeric

• Colloidal silver

• Chamomile

• Lavender

• Melatonin

• WishGarden herbs deep stress drops

In today’s technology, there are so many apps, websites, and videos to help combat stress/anxiety here are a few:

• Calm App

• Headspace App (some health insurance covers it)

• Peloton includes meditation classes

• Youtube has many videos for meditation and soothing sounds