Over 75 percent of American adults suffer from symptoms of stress. Job stress affects about 80 percent of workers in the United States. Almost half of the American population has reported that stress has impacted their behaviors in a negative way. Stress itself isn’t a disease even though the symptoms can resemble those of illness or certainly cause illness.
Stress is actually the body’s natural response to threats. If you’ve ever heard of “fight or flight syndrome,” you are on the right track. Stress causes us to react to physical threats in one of two ways: to fight back aggressively or to make a hasty retreat and remove ourselves from the threat. It’s important to note that neither response is incorrect. When the threat is resolved or eliminated, our bodies go back to functioning normally. This standard “fight or flight” response does not cause any long-term effects.
The problem with the stress that our society currently faces is that it isn’t caused by physical threats that are resolved through immediate action. Stress is caused by relationships, work, traffic, fear, crime, supply shortages, and other everyday facets of life that we can’t just remove or isolate ourselves from. The issue then becomes finding ways to deal with stress so that we don’t cause ourselves further harm.
We’re all familiar with unhealthy stress relief practices. Some of the most damaging include negative self-talk, erratic driving behaviors, becoming aggressive or abusive, social isolation, consuming too much caffeine, and abusing alcohol, tobacco, prescription medications, or recreational or illegal drugs.
That’s why holistic healing offers a better alternative. Holistic medicine treats the entire person, including the body, spirit, mind, and emotions as a whole rather than targeting individual symptoms. In the greater sense, it establishes a mind-body connection that opens the door to greater overall health and wellness. After all, it does no good to relieve the physical pain created by an ulcer without addressing the factors that are causing it in the first place.
Holistic stress relief uses natural treatments, like acupuncture, holistic nutrition, Chinese medicine, bodywork, and more to help relieve feelings of stress. Meditation is also an effective way to relieve stress and feel more at peace.
Seasons in Our Life offers many holistic treatments including life and wellness counseling, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, holistic nutrition, and herbal medicine. Contact us today for more information or to schedule an appointment.