Understanding Stress
The American Medical
Association states: “Stress is recognized as the
number one proxy killer
disease today”. Meaning stress contributes to
more illness than any
other factor in the world. It's a primary
contributor in over 60% of
all disease. Staggering isn't it?
Stress is a reaction in
the body and mind to help us in times of
danger. We've all had a
shock at some time where we shook afterwards
and perhaps time seemed to
slow down during it. That's your 'fight or
flight' response kicking
in to make you faster and stronger in a
crisis. In the short term
that's great, even helping you survive and
succeed. However, when we
suffer long-term stress our self
preservation system stays
active - as if some danger was always
present. This puts
pressure on our body and mind to maintain this
higher level of activity
at the expense of healthy function in other
areas of our bodies as
well as putting pressure on the heart and
vascular system. Hence we
feel bad rather than energised as time goes.
As stress builds it can
suppress your immune system and harm overall
bodily health unless dealt
with. However, first step in controlling
stress is understanding
it's actually there to help you!
John Prendergast is a
Hypno-Psychotherapist & Trauma Therapist at The
Dancing Soul Therapy
Centre. The Centre offers expert therapies
including: Psychotherapy,
Kinesiology, NLP, Reflexology, Cranio
Sacral Therapy, Yoga and
many more. Call on 09064 90607 or drop in at
8 Pearse Street, Athlone.
