Health and healing may seem like pretty complicated topics, but it isn’t really. It can be explained pretty easily and once you understand these simple principles, you can take charge of your health in a whole new way.
This is how your body works:
Your brain sends signals down through your spinal cord and out through the nerves to every organ, tissue and cell of your body. These signals tell your heart to beat, your lungs to breathe and your stomach to digest your food, etc.
Then, all of the parts of your body in turn send signals back up to the brain about what it is doing and how it is doing. This gives your nervous system the feedback it needs to know that all is running well. It is this brain-body connection that keeps you healthy.
This is how life works:
The more and more stress you are subjected to – each and every day, week, month, year and decade – the less and less your body is able to handle all of it.
When you get overwhelmed and your body is overloaded with physical, chemical and emotional stress, this produces interference in your nervous system. This interference is like static on a phone line. It blocks the proper communication between your brain and your body. Without proper communication, your body’s health is at risk.
This stress begins to break your body down and soon you start seeing the signs of it. You start to feel symptoms: low energy, insomnia, headaches, aches and pains, indigestion, high blood pressure, shortness of breath, irritability, anxiety, colds & flus, etc. These are all signs that your body is having difficulty adapting to life’s stresses.
This is what you can do about it:
1) Remove yourself from the stress that is breaking your health down.
Take a day off of work to give yourself a break from the pressure. Go for a walk outside and enjoy nature knowing that you can pick up the “to-do” list when you get back. Take the time and effort to clear the air between you and your loved one that is causing you to bicker at each other constantly.
2) Get some bodywork to help repair the damage caused by your chronic stress.
Get a massage. Get adjusted. Get some acupuncture. Peel away some of the layers of stress that have built up and get your body’s natural mechanisms to heal itself stimulated. Get some relief and allow your body to recover.
3) Do something different.
This, of course, is the most important one to do if you want to enjoy any long lasting result from the previous two actions. Taking a break and getting some healing work is good. Not recreating the problem is even better.
Look at what is stressing you and how you can change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you handle the stress. That situation or that person that stresses you out might be the same when you come back, but you can be different so that it doesn’t overwhelm you.
Life nowadays is so stressful. But you don’t have to always feel so stressed. I hope these concepts help you to make a change in your life that moves you a little more towards wellness and a little farther away from illness. Even just a little step will make a difference.
*Exerpted from the Being Well Lifestyles Home Study Course by Dr. Jay Warren.
Drawing on over two decades of experience as a hands-on holistic practitioner, Dr. Jay Warren is a primary healthcare provider and licensed chiropractor in the San Diego area. He has spent tens of thousands of clinical hours helping his patients achieve their optimal health potential through holistic approaches bolstered by years of personal experimentation, education and research. Dr. Jay creates customized plans integrating exercise, nutrition and stress management strategies to overcome a myriad of health challenges. For more information, email drjay@drjaywarren.com or visit www.DrJayWarren.com.