What is stress?

Stress is a complex, dynamic process of interaction between a person and his or her life. It is the way we react physically, mentally, and emotionally to the various conditions, changes, and demands of life.

Stress can be

Acute (immediate) - which can be a one-time incident that usually comes and goes quickly. Its effect on us can last from minutes or hours to days or weeks. Examples of acute stress include narrowly avoiding an automobile crash or a violent incident with someone.

Chronic (long-term) - which can be caused by a continuing string of stressful incidences, or an ongoing situation. Examples of chronic stress include a difficult job environment, caring for someone with a chronic disease, or a state of loneliness.
We experience stress in levels: Low levels may not be noticeable, slightly higher levels can be positive and challenge us to act in creative and resourceful ways, and high levels can be harmful, worsening chronic diseases such as coronary artery disease. These changing levels occur regularly as we pass through life cycle transitions like graduating from high school and college, getting or changing a job, or getting married.

What causes stress?

Stress results from the tension and anxiety caused by:

A number of specific irritating events throughout a time period, such as traffic jam on the way to an appointment, an argument with a customer or boss, a bad lunch, and so on.

General conditions in your life, such as poor physical health, lack of a support system, emotional problems, loneliness, depression, and unsatisfactory living and work situations.

Life cycle transitions and developmental stages, such as getting married or decreased physical abilities.

When other stress occurs within one of these, it increases the cumulative stress level.

Conflicts with your belief system, such as placing a high value on family life but not having the family life you want.

What does stress do to me?

People react differently to stress. How you react depends on your strategies for coping with stress, your previous experience with stress, your genetic makeup, and your level of social support and how you view your social support. The greatest factor, however, is how you perceive stress and control its outcome. What is stressful to one person may not affect another.

Stress affects you in both its acute and chronic forms:

In acute stress, the body responds to a perceived threat. Your body releases chemicals that increase your heart rate and breathing and provide a burst of energy. This is known as the stress response or the fight-or-flight response.

In chronic stress, the body’s response depends on the severity and duration of the stress and how you respond. The cardiovascular system, the nervous system, and the immune system may be affected. Chronic stress plays a role in many health problems, including coronary artery disease, diabetes, and asthma.

Stress also may cause moodiness, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating. It may lead to depression, relationship problems, and poor performance at work or school. Chronic stress also limits your ability to develop skills that are uniquely yours; it can hinder your ability to excel in a way that is unique to you.

What can I do about stress?

To deal with stress, you need to identify its sources in your life. You need to recognize how stress affects you, understand how to avoid harmful stress, and know how you can deal with it when it occurs. You also need to realize that some events are out of your control. You want to reduce the stress you feel and help eliminate the emotional, mental, and physical problems it may cause.

Strategies to avoid stress include managing your time and commitments, establishing a strong system of social support and effective coping strategies, and leading a healthy lifestyle, including getting adequate sleep and eating healthfully.

Techniques to relieve stress include physical activity and exercise, breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, and massage.

Exercise
Exercise relieves pent-up energy. It also increases fitness, which helps your body cope with stress. Take up a sport, join an exercise group, or walk at least a mile a day. Try to exercise with other people because social contact helps relieve stress, too.

Relaxation
Relaxation releases muscle tension and calms the mind. Sit comfortably and tighten each muscle in turn for a few seconds, then relax it. Either start with your head and work downward or start at your feet and work upward. Do this every day.

Other coping strategies

·         Have a health checkup. The healthier your body, the better you can deal with stress.

·         Follow your doctor’s advice for reducing and coping with stress in your life.

·         Follow your doctor’s advice for treatment of any stress- related symptoms you have.

·         Eat three or four small, nourishing, high-fiber meals a day.

·         If you are overweight, talk to your doctor about weight control.

·         Take time for yourself. Set aside time each day especially for exercise or relaxation.

·         Take time out for relationships. Sit and talk with family and friends.

·         Join an interest group centered on a hobby, sport, or social activity.

·         Try to be prepared. Don’t put things off and then have to struggle to catch up.

·         Simplify your life. Don’t try to do too much. Set goals you can achieve. Learn to say "no."

·         Be willing to resolve disputes. Don’t hold onto anger.

·         Share your burdens. Just talking problems through will often resolve them.

·         Don’t worry about things you can’t control.

·         Don’t roll all your troubles into one large, insoluble one. Break down the difficulties into the smallest parts, and then work on the easiest part first. Build on success.

Holistic Medicine & Stress

Holistic medicine does not only have an active role to play correcting imbalances through the use of natural therapies but also focuses on bringing about an inner development. This inner development is triggered through the application of therapies which eventually will allow the patient to become actively more aware both of their bodies and their emotions.

Alternate or holistic medicine has a substantial history in dealing with stress and stress related disorders successfully.

The most important principles of alternate medicine are —

The body has the power to heal itself; the disease is a manifestation of the bodies’ effort to remove obstructions to normal functioning and the disease affects the whole person —

MIND BODY AND SOUL

This means the Holistic Physician must be a teacher, leader and catalyst allowing the body the things it needs to heal itself.

The patterns of treatment are as diverse as the means of diagnosis & are addressed to the many levels of disease. Mechanical aspects of disease are treated with massage, hydrotherapy, homoeopathy, acupuncture etc.  The emotional and spiritual sides of the disease are only resolved through the freeing of the vital spirit.

Bach flower remedies and Homoeopathy are useful catalysts to the process.

I am glad that the debate about stress is so open today and can be discussed openly with all systems of medicine. Homoeopathy is a method of excellence in dealing with stress and trauma.

For the last 6 years I along with the Clinical Psychologists, cardiologists & other specialized doctors have been researching the role of holistic medicine in stress and stress related disorders such as Anxiety Neurosis, Depression, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), Insomnia etc.

The research has been completely scientific and has shown very high success rates. Also I have every other method available to help in difficult cases and am not an advocate of using only one method. Different methods such as meditaion, yoga have been used as adjuvant therapy. However, I constantly witness the wonderful contribution that Homoeopathy makes to treat this enormous problem. 

It is now known that most of the diseases are psychosomatic in nature, i.e. originating from an imbalance in the mental plane and therefore showing their effect on the physical plane. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Irritable Bowel Syndrome,obesity,gastric ulcers, Skin Disorders such as dermatitis, psoriasis all has an underlying disturbance at the mental plane. these have been treated with an 85% success rate.

Homoeopathic medicine is safe and milder than allopathic medicine. It has minimal side effects. It has no sedation & there is no fear of withdrawal symptoms or addiction as in with most of the psychotropic drugs used in today.

Sleeping pills/sedatives used by a large number of people today to ‘cure’ their insomnia create a problem of their own when the patient is unable to wean them off. Holistic medicine has been proved to be great in such cases.